A Seed of Darkness
by Aria6
Summary: What if Xehanort left a small seed of darkness in Riku's mind when he left? This fic is set after the Writer of Destiny one and features Risu, an original character. If you haven't read Writer of Destiny, do so! Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

_There was a possibility._

_What little of him that remained sensed it. He'd taken the precaution of leaving a seed… a tiny, tiny bit of his darkness, within the boy. If the very worst happened, that seed could grow and sprout and become himself again. He hadn't actually thought it would happen but he was always thorough._

_But the boy was wary. He thought he was just troubled by the previous possession, but that posed a problem. He would not listen to the subtle whispers the darkness in his mind tried to give. It was proving quite difficult. For a time, as Riku had taken in the darkness and even taken his physical form, he had thought he was gaining ground. But that had all been lost._

_But now there was another of the boys' bloodline, and close. A full brother. The connection would help, but he would need something a little more direct… as soon as the brother's blood was spilled, he could make the jump._

_It would eventually happen. There were always accidents._

* * *

"I can't believe how much you're helping me. You don't have to do that, you know?" Riku was leaning against the wall, watching his brother Risu chop vegetables. Risu looked up with a smile.

He was feeling surprisingly content about his life. Not perfectly content… that would have required drugs… but content. He spent most of his days fixing cars and working on custom bikes and occasionally dealing with customers. The only kindled his ever present anger was the customers. In almost every way, the unhappy tension he had lived with all his life had decreased. It was a good thing.

And Riku was perhaps one of the best things that had happened to him. When he had arrived, Riku had been scraping by trying to pay for his summer course as well as keep a roof over his head and food on the table. He could have asked for help, but Riku was determined to finally be independent. From Sora and Kairi, at least. But when his brother had turned up, wanting to know him and willing to pay half the rent, who could say no?

Risu had ended up paying for far more than that, but didn't care. He had nothing but contempt for extreme luxuries, so good food and a nice place to sleep were more than enough. And books. Fiction had been outlawed in his world unless it was based on fact, and that more than anything had fueled his current addiction to it.

Sometimes, though, Riku seemed to feel he was taking advantage of his brother and Risu didn't feel that way at all.

"But I like to cook." He responded truthfully, and tossed the carrots into the stew. "It's the only way I get to play with knives." It was remarkable, really, that he could even make a joke about his non-violence conditioning. In the past just thinking about it had brought forth a cold, bitter anger. It still did, but now Risu was seeing the black humor in it. "Ow!" He frowned at the blood welling up from his finger, then wiped it off. The flesh knit back together as he and Riku watched.

"That's really freaky, you know. People shouldn't heal like that." Riku had only the vaguest idea how the nanite systems Risu had mentioned worked. But he knew they were responsible for the healing, as well as his brother's speed, agility and amazing strength.

"I can't imagine why not." Was Risu's only response. He wasn't about to tell Riku that he had used to… experiment with what he could do to his own body. Self-inflicted wounds were not prevented by his conditioning, and he'd found he rather enjoyed the pain. No, that wasn't something Riku could understand. Frowning, Risu suddenly put a hand to his forehead. There was a pain there.

But it passed, and he added the potatoes to the stew. "If you want something to eat, you'll have to make a sandwich. This is for supper." It would take hours to cook. Riku blinked, seemingly rousing out of a reverie.

"Oh… yes. Sure, thanks." A bit subdued, Riku got out sandwich meat and bread. Something had happened, he felt. But he had no idea what.

* * *

_The bit of darkness explored the new mind it had entered, and found itself utterly appalled. If Riku had been difficult, Risu promised to be just as bad._

_The explosive anger was kept tightly under control, only unleashed in cold little spurts. It might be possible to fan that anger, but to what purpose? The control was so amazing that the darkness was sure Risu would simply handle it. If all else failed, it would be worth a try, but it would be a clumsy technique at best._

_The thought of working with jealousies and insecurities came next, but was quickly rejected. Risu was not Riku. Riku had been a lost boy, competitive with Sora and insecure in himself when the darkness had first encountered him. Risu was not. He was a man full grown, and looked on the world with a cold logic that precluded jealousies. Not that he didn't feel him… the man was human, after all… but jealousy was not a logical emotion to Risu. He would simply work towards getting the thing he envied or resign himself to the fact that it could not be his, then forget about it entirely. And Risu simply did not have any insecurity. He was brutally honest in his appraisal of himself. The darkness tasted his mind and found it almost frightening._

_But frustration… ah, frustration. The mind had limits that it wanted to surpass, chafing on itself. Mental conditioning. The darkness had never seen anything like it. It posed problems of its own, especially the peculiar prohibition against violence, but it was also a weak point in the psyche._

_The darkness only needed a weak point. But exploiting this one would be very difficult. It would have to consider…_


	2. Hollow Bastion

"Women in this world are really weird." Risu complained as he put the final touches on supper. He was discovering he had a real talent for cooking. Right now, he was making macaroni and cheese with lobster. It was sinfully rich, the way homemade mac and cheese should be. The lobster had been a little difficult, since killing a defenseless creature just wasn't socially acceptable to his conditioning. Fortunately, Riku hadn't had any compunction about putting it in the pot. Riku looked up from the book he was reading.

"What do you mean?" Riku couldn't imagine that girls were really different on Risu's world. If so, it was even stranger than he thought.

"I went to that bar you mentioned and had a great time, but then a girl asked me if her jeans made her butt looked fat. I told her they did and she threw her drink in my face!" Risu paused from his cooking as Riku burst into laughter. "What's so funny?"

"It's just… that's… what would a girl do if you said that to her in your world?" Riku managed to ask, and Risu blinked.

"Change her butt of course… what is so funny?" Risu was genuinely perplexed as that set Riku off into another fit of laughter.

"Risu, girls here can't just change their butts. You're supposed to lie when a girl asks that, everyone knows that." Riku wiped away a few tears of laughter as Risu looked even more confused.

"But if they don't want the truth, why do they ask?" Risu paused for a moment. "Nevermind… that is like the girls I knew. It was just different subjects." Shaking his head, he ladled out the mac and cheese and topped it with the lobster. "All done." Girls were an eternal mystery to him. Often delightful, but still a mystery.

"So how was the gym?" Riku asked as they ate, and Risu had to pause to throttle back a surge of anger. He didn't want to be angry at Riku for something that wasn't his fault in any way. It wasn't even the fault of the man who had infuriated him.

"It was fine." But he knew his calm, collected tone wouldn't deceive Riku. Riku had come to know him better than that. "I was asked if I was planning to enter the Struggle this year." Riku winced.

"Oh… I'm sorry." He knew exactly why that would put Risu close to the edge. Risu shook his head.

"It's not your fault. It wasn't even his fault. It was a reasonable question." Logic didn't cure the anger, but certainly helped to control it. If only there was a way to break his conditioning…

_Maybe magic could do it._ The thought seemed to come out of nowhere, and Risu paused for a moment to consider it.

He'd listened to Risu's stories about magic, and it didn't seem to him that magic worked that way. There were specific spells that did things. No one would have a spell for his nanite systems.

_But maybe it wouldn't work that way for a master magician. Riku, Sora and the others, they just use magic, they don't understand it. And maybe it would need a magician who understands magic and technology. Maybe if you learned it yourself…_ Risu was captivated by the idea. It offered some hope, although perhaps not much. But even if he failed he would have learned valuable skills so it wouldn't be a complete waste of time.

He never questioned where the idea had come from. It was perfectly logical, after all.

* * *

Riku frowned as he carefully piloted the Travel Happens to Hollow Bastion.

Axel thought the machine was his, and in a way it was… but Riku was its master. His conditioning would have forbidden him to steal the machine from a fellow citizen… and if the Queen of Hearts owned it, she had at least provisional citizenship… but he had truthfully entered her death into the system. As she had no known heirs… the Kraken didn't count… and as he was the only citizen in the area, he had defaulted into ownership. He had kept the system privileges Axel enjoyed in place, but he could have cut them off at any time. And the Travel Happens was his to summon.

He finally found a convenient balcony and leapt onto it, the machine vanishing back to the place between. Risu glanced around… then blinked. There was something very odd on the balcony, and he would have sworn it hadn't been there a moment before.

A sword was impaled into the floor only a few feet from him. At least… he thought it was a sword. It was shaped like a scimitar of ice, but mechanical components glowed deep inside it… things that were formed of the same half real, half unreal alloy as the vehicle. Frost glittered on the floor around the sword and he hesitated before gripping the hilt. It was so cold it burned, and he smiled as the pain and pleasure of it washed over him as the nanites corrected the damage, then altered his skin to tolerate the cold.

_Someone here must have a lost it. I'll return it to them._ Risu felt a vague regret at the thought. He liked the way the weapon felt in his hands… but what could be more useless to him than a weapon? He smiled bitterly, then began to walk.

Then stopped. _Something is behind me._ His machine telepathy worked much better on machines, but it did work on living creatures and he felt a malicious regard. Whirling, he raised the blade in what he knew would be a futile gesture… and blinked at the tiny creatures of darkness scuttling towards him.

_Heartless? I thought they had cleaned this place up._ Confused, Risu readied himself and hoped that the Heartless would be sufficiently alien for his AI system to regard them as unliving or subsentient. He was allowed to kill animals in self-defense…

The question was answered as the first one leaped at him, and he knocked it from the air with a single blow. Risu had no actual knowledge of swords but had seen Riku practicing, and along with his native strength and agility, it was enough. To his surprise, they dissipated at the very touch of the frozen sword.

_That must mean this is a keyblade._ Risu regarded the blade with a frown. Why would a keyblade have chosen him? Although… this blade almost seemed to have been designed with him in mind. The cold was comforting, and he already felt a deep connection to it through the machinery that lived within it. Then he shook his head.

It didn't matter. He needed to find Merlin.

He realized soon, though, that the balcony he picked had no relationship to where anything else in Hollow Bastion was. Risu spared a moment of energy to wish futiley for a map. Then he made a mental note to make a magical map that could show him any area as soon as he learned magic. If that was possible, and it would be if he had any say in it.

There was something behind him again. Risu was tired, irritated and in a particularly foul temper so he whirled, his sword out-

And went stock still as his sword pointed at the chest of a man with brown hair and a scar on his face. He seemed entirely unimpressed by the keyblade.

He _was_ slightly alarmed by Risu's reaction to his mistake.

Risu dropped his weapon as a wave of violent nausea assaulted him, and his stomach muscles tried to tie themselves in a knot. Falling to his knees, he bit his lip and tasted blood. This was the pain he could never enjoy, the punishment inflicted by his nanites and AI whenever he overstepped his boundaries. There was nothing to do but ride it out.

"Are you okay?" Risu heard distantly as he tried to keep himself from throwing up. For a long moment he couldn't answer. Finally, the pain began to ease, and he drew a shaky breath.

"I am… fine." He pulled himself back to his feet as the man watched him dubiously. "You would be Leon?" Risu picked up the keyblade and walked over to the edge of the balcony, then spat a wad of blood over the side before running his tongue over his teeth. He had bitten clear through his lip, but the wound was already healing.

"Yes. Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Leon tilted his head to one side. He'd met Riku, but while Risu was similar no one would mistake him for Riku up close. Risu smiled tiredly.

"I'm Risu, Riku's brother. I was hoping to see Merlin." Leon nodded.

"I'll take you to him." They walked in silence for a time, as Leon led him in the opposite direction Risu had been going. "What happened to you back there?" Leon finally asked. He had mulled it over in his mind, and couldn't find any explanation for Risu's odd behavior.

"My AI systems punished me for daring to strike at you," Risu replied shortly. "Fortunately, they don't seem to object to my destroying Heartless." Leon glanced at him with a small frown.

"Heartless? This place should be free of them." Then he glanced down at the weapon in Risu's hand. "Your keyblade likely attracted them." Risu glanced down at the weapon, which glittered in the light.

"So it is a keyblade." He hadn't been entirely sure, although it had seemed likely. Leon nodded.

"Yes, although a strange one." Leon had never seen anything quite like it. The rest of the journey continued in comfortable silence. Finally, they reached Merlin's cottage. He and a girl who could only be Aerith were talking about something, but stopped when the two of them walked in.

"Merlin. This is Risu, he came to speak to you." Risu nodded respectfully to the sorcerer, but didn't offer his hand to shake. He was still holding the keyblade… how did you put it away…? And that wasn't customary in his world in any case.

"Really? What can I help you with, young man?" Merlin beamed and Risu couldn't help but smile. He was much older than he appeared, but he was certain Merlin still had the right to call him that.

"I wanted to ask if I could be your apprentice." Risu asked bluntly, and Merlin looked a little taken aback as Aerith and Leon exchanged a glance.

"I… am afraid I must say no." Merlin said slowly. "I can sense a great darkness in your heart." Leon tensed slightly behind Risu. Risu's posture and expression had not changed, but Leon could sense the rage suddenly radiating from him. "And your keyblade is also extremely dark." Risu glanced down the blade, a bit surprised. "Darker than even Oblivion."

Staring at the ice on the blade, Risu thought he understood. It was the keyblade of his homeworld… a world so dark that no one noticed the darkness anymore. A world that had all but forgotten what light even meant.

Pulling his thoughts away and carefully banking his rage, Risu smiled politely to Merlin. "Then I thank you for your time." He carefully turned and walked out, Leon and Aerith watching him go.

"That man," Aerith said slowly when she was certain Risu was safely out of earshot. "Has a tremendous anger inside him." No one could disagree.

* * *

Risu carefully piloted the Travel Happens back to Traverse Town, taking his time. The last thing you wanted to do was give in to your temper while piloting a vehicle.

_I need someone who won't care about my 'dark heart'._ He fumed to himself. _Someone motivated entirely by self-interest. Someone I can offer my talents to._ Perhaps a wizard or witch would have need of a technician. And if not, he could offer to cook and clean. He would have done that for Merlin, if the wizard had accepted his offer.

_Maleficent._ Risu blinked at the idea, him temper ebbing. Maleficent? She was certainly powerful and self-interested. It went against the grain a bit, using someone who had used his brother but… there weren't a lot of choices. He could try Yen Sid but no one really knew where to find him. And even if he could, would the mage accept him if Merlin wouldn't? There were the mages on Axel's world, but they all worked for Axel and Axel did not like him. Risu didn't really hold that against Axel… he knew he wasn't a likeable person… but it would be a problem for getting lessons.

_Maleficent it is._ Risu thought as he arrived in Traverse Town. _I'll have to think carefully on what to offer her._ He would have to make the deal sweet enough to interest her, but not sell away what was truly important to him.

It would definitely require some thought.


	3. Apprentice

_Riku,_

_I'm sorry I couldn't tell you this in person, but I'm not sure how it will go. I'm going to pursue a dream of mine. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but my savings are in that little vault I rigged up. It's keyed to you, just touch the hand pad. Use it to pay my rent and other expenses. And don't hesitate to spend it if something comes up, you hear? Money doesn't matter to me. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine._

_-Risu_

_P.S – Feed that stray calico for me please? She's a sweetheart._

* * *

Risu carefully piloted the Travel Happens into the World that Never Was. It had taken some doing to find it, but the vehicle could go anywhere.

According to Risu, Maleficent had laid claim to the pure white castle that had previously belonged to Organization 13. No one had contested her claim since frankly, no one else wanted it. It had been damaged in the battle but still existed. And as far as Risu could see, any damage to it had been repaired. The pink and gold heart hanging in the sky was vaguely disturbing. It reminded him of the Void of Strife, the place his people found and worked the half real, half unreal alloys that made the special vehicles that could punch between worlds. He suddenly frowned. His people believed the Void was a matter sink, a place where broken bits of worlds were naturally recycled into new worlds. They had studied it and mapped the matter, but had they missed something more… ephemeral, less subject to science? Risu wouldn't have been the least bit surprised.

Shaking off his musings, he walked into the castle. The spaces were vast, uncomfortably so. His footsteps rang off the stone, and the unrelieved white was a little off putting. Not because it made him uncomfortable, but because it reminded Risu of his mother. She had loved white and decorated their living quarters in nothing but white when he was growing up.

That thought kindled his ever present anger, and he took a deep breath, resolutely forcing away the memories. He needed to be calm and composed for this meeting.

"Hey! What the Sam hill are you doing here?" Risu turned, unsurprised, to see Mighty Pete scowling down at him. "You're that Riku boy, ain't you?" Pete peered at him more closely. "Although… you don't look quite right."

"That's because I'm not. I'm Risu, his brother." Risu said politely. "I wanted to speak to Maleficent?" That immediately made Pete suspicious.

"What d'you want to talk to her for?" He demanded, and Risu frowned. He didn't want to explain it twice, or have Pete trying to talk for him.

"Why don't you take me to her and I can tell you both?" He suggested, then smiled wryly. "If I'm up to no good, I'm sure the two of you could handle it." He was sure that was what Pete was suspicious of. And for good reason, since Riku had no reason at all to be fond of Maleficent. But then, he wasn't Riku.

"Erm, well…" Pete scratched his head for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure, why not. But if you try anything!" He suddenly spread his hands to either side and glared hard at Risu. Risu wasn't particularly intimidated, but didn't underestimate Pete either. He might not be very smart, but Risu was sure his hits would hurt. "I'll tell ya right now, we have an army of Heartless here!"

"I don't doubt it." Risu replied, and then gestured with one hand. "Lead the way?" He had figured out how to dismiss the keyblade, so Pete had no idea he had something to use against those Heartless.

Maleficent, when they reached her, was standing on a balcony that overlooked the rest of the World that Never Was and was clearly thinking about something. Riku's descriptions of her had been very accurate. Riku rather admired her bat winged robes… at least they were original. No one in his worlds would have dared to wear such a thing.

"Hey, Maleficent?" Pete called to her and she slowly turned to look. "There's someone here to see you! Says his name's Risu."

"Risu? How interesting." She regarded him appraisingly, then smiled. "And what can I do for you, young man?" Risu smiled to himself at her friendliness. He was sure she was thinking of how to best corrupt and use him.

"I want power, Maleficent, but not a gift of power." He explained. "Gifts always have limits, and I want the only limits on me to be those of my intelligence and talent. So… I want to be your apprentice." She lifted her eyebrows at him, startled by the request.

"Apprentice? I haven't had an apprentice in decades. And what would I get out of this arrangement?" She replied, clearly not captivated by the idea. Apprentices could be far more of a nuisance than they were worth. But Risu had thought carefully about that, and replied immediately.

"I'm a Demirene class technician. That means I can repair anything mechanical, as well as design and build new items to your specifications. Also, I'm very good at cooking and cleaning-"

"He cooks?" Mighty Pete suddenly spoke up, looking pleased. "We should keep him! Those Heartless can't cook worth a damn and neither can I."

"Silence Pete." Maleficent gestured at him, but he continued anyway.

"And they don't clean up that well either and I hate that-"

"I said silence, imbecile!" A crackle of electricity hit the ground beside Pete, and he clutched his head protectively. Maleficent turned her attention back to Risu, who had watched the byplay patiently. "Is that all?" Risu shook his head.

"I'll also run errand and perform tasks for you. Anything you desire, provided they do not involve hurting the people I care about." Risu smiled briefly. "I have no objection to causing problems for anyone else, although I have some… behavioral constraints. I am physically unable to strike out at anyone." He added when she looked a bit annoyed. "But I can do almost anything else." His conditioning did include prohibitions on stealing, and a dozen other things, but those all had "from a citizen" tacked on. Unless Maleficent sent him to his own worlds, no one here was a citizen.

"Hmm." Maleficent tapped her chin for a few moments, thinking. "I'll need to consider this." Then she smiled. "Why don't you show your culinary skill and prepare supper? I'll give you an answer when I've seen what you can do. Pete, show him to the kitchen."

"Sure thing Maleficent!" Pete saluted, then looked at Risu. "This way. It's a bit of a walk." They walked companionably in silence for a while.

"So what kinds of things does Maleficent like to eat?" Risu asked casually, and Pete scratched his head.

"I've never seen her eat much really." Risu sighed to himself. That wasn't very helpful. He'd just have to go with whatever there was in the kitchen.

The kitchen itself was not nearly as white as the rest of the castle. The grease stuck to the walls saw to that. Risu was utterly appalled by the mess.

"Entropy! When was the last time you cleaned up in here?" There were dishes piled onto every counter space and the oven gave new meaning to the word filthy. A vast sink had somehow been put in, and it was filled to the brim with more dishes. The only plus side was that most of the dishes seemed to have been cleaned off somehow. Unfortunately, the Heartless that was licking a dish off in a corner gave him a good idea of how. "Tell me that's not how you wash dishes around here."

"Of course not!" Mighty Pete bristled, then looked to the side, touching his chin. "Err… mostly. Except when we run out." Risu just stared at him, expressionless. Pete bristled again. "Hey, I'm really busy around here! And I haven't got any help except for the Heartless." Risu glanced over at the one on the corner, which was eyeing him slyly as it started on another dish.

"Well, get them out of here. I'm handling this now." He began moving off dishes to clear himself a work area, a bit more vigorously than was strictly necessary. Pete yelped as a pot hit the wall near him.

"Hey, watch what yer doin'!" Pete balled up his fists and bounced from foot to foot. "Why I oughtta…"

"I was watching." Which was strictly true. Risu had hit exactly what he was aiming for. Irritating Pete was an unintentional bonus. Risu looked up at him pointedly. "If you're staying, start washing."

"Hey, I got work to do! This is your job." Pete turned and flounced out. "Young punks…" Risu smiled as Pete muttered to himself. Mighty Pete was full of bluster, but it didn't matter. He'd gotten Pete out of the kitchen.

Now, what could he make?

Risu frowned, looking over the available ingredients. They were sparse, to say the least. There was a large bucket of potatoes that looked they were about to put out blooms, they eyes had grown so far. The fridge in the corner had an impressive collection of moldy vegetables.

"No wonder Maleficent doesn't eat much." He muttered as he poked through the fridge. The vegetables he wasn't going to touch, but there was eggs, cheese, bacon… "A quiche. That would be easy." Not really quick, if he needed to make the dough, but he had some time.

The first thing he started on was the dough. Working the butter into the flour was familiar, relaxing task. Soon the puff pastry was chilling in the freezer as he prepared the filling. He made double what he thought he would need… he doubted Maleficent would eat a lot, but Pete was entirely another matter. Then, just to be on the safe side, he fried up the rest of the bacon as a side dish. If no one wanted it, he could always use it for a soup. He also found the coffee grounds and made a pot of coffee. You could never go wrong with coffee.

Soon, the quiche was in the oven and he started on the dishes. He had just made a dent in the pile when it was time to pull the quiche out. As he was setting up the dishes, Pete poked his head in again.

"Hey, are you done? That smells great!" Pete sniffed the air, and Risu smiled, offering him a piece of bacon. Pete was too funny to stay mad at, really. Even for him.

"I'm done. Is Maleficent ready?" Pete nodded as he crunched the bacon.

"Yeah, right this way." Risu lifted the tray easily, carrying it to the dining room. Fortunately, it wasn't very far from the kitchen. Although that only made sense… he could just imagine Pete trying to lug a pot up the stairs and spilling it everywhere. Maleficent smiled slightly as he brought it in, and gestured to the table.

"Breakfast for supper?" She asked casually, and Risu nodded with a small smile. The bacon and cheese quiche, with coffee, really was more breakfast food.

"I didn't want to touch the vegetables, I'm afraid. And the meat was definitely off. This seemed like the safest option. If I stay, I'm going to need money and permission to go shopping immediately." Risu passed out the plates, putting the remainder of the quiche in the centre of the table so anyone could help themselves. "The kitchen needs a lot of work. If you decide to keep me, I would suggest making my first technical task building a dishwasher." The kitchen desperately needed one. Maleficent raised her eyebrows.

"We'll see." Then she tried the quiche, looking faintly surprised. Pete was more vocal when he tried his.

"This is great! Can't we keep him? I don't want to cook anymore."

"Silence, idiot!" Maleficent sighed, laying down her fork before looking at Risu intently. "An apprenticeship is a serious matter. It's much like a contract. So… before we begin, you should know. I am actually a fairy. I have intrinsic powers based on that, that will be difficult for you to learn." Risu frowned slightly. He'd thought Maleficent was a witch. "However, I am also a witch and I have a very large library of knowledge I've collected. You will have access to all of that, but you'll need to teach yourself a great deal. I have no time to coddle apprentices." Risu smiled at her acerbic tone. "If I'm going to take you as an apprentice, it will be for ten years or until I'm satisfied with your progress. And you will refer to me as Mistress." Risu frowned, but decided not to object. If he had gotten through his school referring to his teachers as Sir, he could certainly call Maleficent Mistress. At least she appeared to deserve the title.

"Yes, Mistress. Does this mean I'm your apprentice?" Maleficent sighed, and picked up her fork again.

"Yes, apprentice."


	4. A Cat named Cream

Risu carefully consulted his notes and examined the diagram a final time.

He was taking a further step in his magical education by trying to summon a Quasid. A minor imp that seemed to exist in a plane of quasi-darkness, they would offer advice for the right price. The advice was usually cryptic and rather useless, so the ritual was rarely done, but Risu wasn't doing it for advice. He was doing it to see if he could.

Risu wasn't sure how much talent he had. Maleficent seemed vaguely pleased with his progress, but more pleased with his quiche. Her lessons were sporadic, so he had gotten used to learning from the books and experimenting. That was actually quite familiar… he'd been born into a lower class than Demirene, and had effectively trained himself in the technical specialty. He was used to learning without help.

He began carefully intoning the words, feeling the power build. And halfway through he stopped abruptly, banking the candles to disrupt the build of power.

It was too much power. He carefully grounded it as he had learned, then examined the pattern minutely. If even one whorl was out of place it could spell disaster. With a sigh of disgust at himself, he found the problem and corrected it… it had been in the name of the creature he was summoning, of all places! He didn't think he would have died… he had placed numerous wards over himself… but he would have had to channel deeply from the darkness to save himself. He was mindful of the warnings in the books that darkness corrupted. It was also the easiest and quickest power to draw on in an emergency.

Stepping back into his spot of the diagram, he began the ritual again. This time the power rose in a gentle hum, and before long there was a shadowy little figure hunched over in the circle. It looked vaguely like a Heartless, but less threatening and more… natural. The eyes that glowed from the shadows were a soft white.

_What you want magic maker? What you give?_ It asked in a wheedling, childish tone. Risu smiled faintly at his success.

"I want to know whatever you want to tell me. As for what I have to give… a nice, raw steak." A small note in the margin of his book had indicated the creatures did eat and sometimes appreciated raw meat. The Quasid chattered.

_Give first!_ Risu tossed the steak into the centre, and the creature grabbed it greedily. The book had also mentioned not to give the reward until the summoned creature had spoken, but that supposed you had a question you cared about. The Quasid tore it apart and gulped it down, then grinned toothily at him. _Good meat. I give you good advice. Two heads is better than one._ It vanished, leaving Risu behind, looking at the centre of the diagram thoughtfully.

It sounded like something out of a fortune cookie but he had the odd feeling he'd heard something important. He mentally noted it, then grounded the power and began taking apart the diagram. You couldn't be too neat when you were working this kind of magic.

* * *

_If the darkness had had teeth to grind, it would have. It had put considerable effort into clouding Risu's perceptions and guiding his hand into an error… all for nothing!_

_Risu couldn't know the truth about his own talents, but the darkness did. Maleficent's indifferent teaching would have ensured a fatal accident for most apprentices. Or they would have pestered her with questions and likely ended up a statue in the garden. But Risu possessed a gift for independent learning coupled with methodical attention to detail. And most importantly, a natural talent most wizards would envy._

_No apprentice should have realized the summoning was going wrong until it was too late. Full fledged wizards and witches would have failed. The darkness hadn't wanted to kill Risu… it had just wanted to force him to channel darkness that it could absorb and use._

_So frustrating._

* * *

With the delicacy of a surgeon, Risu inscribed the final line on a fresh piece of parchment.

He had run through so many in his work that this room was a veritable tomb of dead paper. Fortunately, Maleficent's workroom seemed to have an endless supply. He'd detected some enchantments on the box that made him think that was literally true. And that was a good thing… he'd have hated to bother her for more paper. Picking up a pair of tweezers and the special tube of glue had had prepared for this, he began to apply tiny gems to the paper. Everything needed to be precise. A major flaw would result in failure, a minor flaw would cause friction when he cast the final spells and lower the lifespan of what he was attempting to create-

"Risu!" He winced at Maleficent's call, and carefully put the tweezers and tube away as she entered his workroom. She ignored the papers completely. This room had been given to him to use in any way he wanted. "Are you done with that?" She pointed at the parchment, not really looking at it. Risu shook his head.

"No, but I can finish it at any time. What do you need me for, Mistress?" At first that title had chafed a bit, but after reading over some of the more descriptive books in Maleficent's library, Risu had realized that she had been telling him the literal truth. Being an apprentice in magic to anyone was basically slavery in return for knowledge, and Mistress or Master were the correct titles. It was refreshing, really, to have the responsibilities on both sides so clearly lined out.

"I need you for a lesson. Come, I have something to show you." She turned and swept out of the room, her apprentice in tow. "I need to make a batch of love potion. I have some uses for it, and you can help prepare the ingredients." Risu smiled to himself. His skill with cooking was easily transferred to preparing potion ingredients.

Soon he was chopping as Maleficent stirred a cauldron over the heating pad he had built for it. Unlike the traditional wood fire, it kept the temperature very even while not stinking up the castle. Some of the ingredients he chopped coarsely, while others needed to be very fine. He recognized almost all of them from the herb book he had memorized. Although…

"Mistress, if I can ask… what is this?" He held up a dark red root. She glanced over at it.

"That's the plant you fetched me last week from the pixie forest. It will infuse pure magic into the brew." She looked back into the cauldron, gauging the color. "Put in the sage." Risu immediately added the finely chopped herb. "I could have used anything from that forest, but that particular root has a nice taste."

_And it would annoy the pixies, whom you dislike,_ Risu added to himself. He'd come back with several wounds from that particular trip. Not that he really minded… just from his brief time there, he hadn't liked the pixies either. But even big blue stinging nettles needed pixies, he supposed. He wanted to ask about the love potion but held his peace. Maleficent would tell him when she was ready. That was how her lessons always went.

"Now… the love potion." Maleficent said slowly. "This is a particularly good one, from the Grimoire of Oswald." Risu made a mental note of that. Anything Maleficent said worked very well, he copied into his own book. "A tiny sip will act like wine, only moreso, releasing the inhibitions of the imbiber. A long drink will cause him or her to fall in love with the next person they see."

"And the catch, Mistress?" There had to be a catch. Maleficent laughed.

"They learn so quickly… yes, too heavy a dose will cause not just love but jealous, possessive love. And if the other person doesn't return the love…" Maleficent smiled, and Risu nodded thoughtfully. It wasn't a nice thing to do to anyone, but Maleficent wasn't nice. And, when you got right down to it, neither was he.

"So the dosage would be important for whatever effect you mean to achieve."

"Indeed. Add the heartroot." Risu added the final ingredient, and Maleficent examined the brew thoughtfully. "The color is important. It needs to be a deep, wine red." At the moment it was a bright crimson. "Now, you stir this." Risu took the spoon and began to stir as Maleficent stood back to watch. "There's also an antidote. We'll make that tomorrow." Risu nodded, and mentally pushed back his map another day. He would need an uninterrupted space of at least four hours to complete it, and he would have to be well rested for the final incantation.

It took some time for the potion to change colors, but when it did he glanced at Maleficent. She nodded, and he removed the heavy cast iron pot from the heat, setting it onto a stand he had also built. It put the cauldron into easy distance of the table where the bottles sat. There were, he noted, over a dozen of them as well as a ladle and a funnel, and corks with wax to seal them in place.

"Bottle those, and put them into the racks. Then clean up the room, apprentice." Maleficent instructed before leaving. Risu sighed faintly, but began the drudge work of potion making dutifully.

It was what apprentices were for, after all.

* * *

"Tell me something about yourself."

"Huh?" Risu pulled his thoughts back to the room with a blink. He and Maleficent were waiting patiently for the stars to reach exactly the right alignment to cast a curse. It could have been done at any time, but Maleficent was feeling particularly nasty towards someone. Doing the curse exactly right would optimize the effects. Risu had no idea who she was feeling malicious towards, but he had a suspicion it had something to do with the tartlets he had prepared for her a few days ago. He had carefully spiked them with the love potion she had prepared then concealed any color change with whipped cream. Maleficent had been very pleased with the result.

"Tell me about yourself. About why you want to remove your conditioning." She waved a hand as he opened his mouth. "Not the bare facts. Tell me why, from your heart." Risu's mouth clicked shut, and he stared away as he thought about that. A story from his heart?

White walls. They were everywhere.

"I think," he started slowly, armoring his heart in ice. He would need to be calm and composed to tell this story. "The first time I was punished by my systems was when I was eight." He paused, then said gently. "Are you sure you want to hear this story? It's very unpleasant." Maleficent gave him a look like he was an idiot. Unpleasantness was her business. "Alright… when I was a child, I grew up in a white house. Everything inside was white. All our clothing was white. My mother was obsessed with the color, and wouldn't allow anything un-white in the house at all." Risu looked up at the sky, watching the stars for a moment. "We had a white cat. She didn't have a name… naming animals could be done but wasn't encouraged, and mother had never had a socially unacceptable thought in her life. So she was just the cat. I loved her very much, and named her Cream in my head." Risu's voice was slightly husky, and he had to pause to calm himself and make sure the ice was firmly in place. Only the cold could let him tell this story.

"She lived with us all my life. But when I was eight, Cream started to turn grey. She was an old cat by then and only wanted to sleep on my lap. At first Mother dyed her white, but the grey kept showing through." Risu glanced at the white, white walls. "She could have gotten an AI treatment for it, but Cream was just an old cat. So she applied for a new one. Once she had approval, she put Cream in the trash disposal." Risu paused, then added. "I'll always remember how she screamed when it disintegrated her."

"I picked up a lamp and tried to kill her with it. I meant to kill her, wanted to kill her, and my nanite systems punished me for it. And as I lay on the floor, writhing in pain, she laughed and called me a stupid little boy." Risu looked at Maleficent, who was watching him with an unreadable expression. "We got a new cat, but I could never love him. Because I knew that if his fur began to turn grey, he would be gone."

"A terrible story." Her tone was not sympathetic, simply acknowledging, and Risu was grateful for that. He wouldn't have believed sympathy. Maleficent just wasn't a sympathetic person. "If you want revenge on your mother, you don't have to wait to be free. We could lay a curse on her that would make her wish for death." Risu smiled at the offer, but shook his head.

"She committed suicide decades ago. She was just a small, cruel, self-centered woman who was too small to even see her cruelty. I just want to be free, so I never have to endure anything like that again." Maleficent laid a hand on his shoulder, and smiled at him. It was the smile of a co-conspirator, and he returned it.

"Perhaps you will, someday." Privately, Maleficent thought that if there was any solution to his problem, Risu would find it. "But now, the stars are in alignment. We have an hour to complete this. Are you ready?"

"Yes, Mistress." Risu stood and took his place in the diagram. He would provide a grounding for the power and help with direction. Not a hard thing, and something any apprentice could have done.

He was more than pleased to help. The victim of the curse didn't concern him at all.


	5. Bridge is not for Sissies

Risu examined the parchment minutely, and was finally satisfied.

The entire parchment had been inscribed in a diagram as intricate and complete as a blueprint. It was largely original, too. Oh, all the designs were based on things he had found from the books, but he had needed to customize and combine them to achieve all the desired properties for the final product. It had been a bit like coupling together dissimilar programs, and Risu idly wondered if perhaps his technical background had been an asset. Stones glittered in the bright light of the room, tucked into the spirals and geometric corners of the design. Risu paused to admire his handiwork.

In a moment, he would never see it again.

Taking a deep breath, he placed his hands on the parchment and began speaking words of power as he channeled energy. Not from the darkness, but from himself and the elemental power of earth. Earth was closely aligned to what he wanted to do, and the power answered him easily, flowing through him like a gentle river slowly rising up its banks.

The words were not, he knew, strictly necessary. Maleficent had already told him that, and his books had seconded it. The words were aides to channel the power, necessary for apprentices but not necessary for any real wizard or witch. He had begun channeling the darkness without words… darkness was always the easiest power to access… and had met with much success. But for this, he wanted everything to be perfect, so he used the words.

The lines on the paper lit with green fire, spreading out from where his hands rested on the parchment. When all the lines on the parchment were glowing green, the gems briefly lit with sparkling fire. That was the signal Risu was looking for, and he carefully banked the power. As he lifted his hands from the parchment, it changed.

It was a map. A perfect map of the castle. Risu lifted it up, examining it, and could find no flaw. The scale was perfect… small, but not so small that it would have been impossible to read. The entire castle wasn't in it, of course. It was only showing the level he was currently on. If he went down a level, it would start showing that level. There was a moving dot on the map, and he touched it.

_Mighty Pete._ The map whispered aloud, and Risu smiled. It was working perfectly.

Wait. That meant Pete was outside his workroom-

"Hey! What are you doin' in here?" Risu winced as Pete slammed open the door. If he'd done it five minutes before, Risu would have been homicidal. A disruption in his concentration would surely have destroyed the map. "Hey, what's that?"

"It's a map," Risu said politely, spreading the map back down on the table. "A magical map of the castle. I just finished making it." He was really quite proud of it, and wanted to share it with someone. Pete was convenient and actually pretty fun to be around, in a weird sort of way.

"Oh yeah?" Pete examined the map, rubbing his chin. "Hey, that's pretty nice, this place is like a maze. Guess that's why you made it huh? What's that dot?" Pete poked the map.

_Maleficent._ The map whispered, and Pete jumped back with a yelp.

"That thing talks?!?" He rubbed his finger, looking like the map had just bitten him. Risu smiled, rubbing his forehead. All the channeling had raised a sweat, and he was starting to feel hungry as well.

"It's a magic map." He pointed out, then began rolling it up. "It works anywhere, and shows everyone in the vicinity. Although I'm not sure how long it will last. I'm an apprentice, so it's not going to be permanent." That made him rather sad. He had put so much into it, just to have it fade away… but that was just how it worked. It required a full fledged wizard to create a relic, an item that wouldn't fade or crumble. "I'd better get started on lunch. We're having lamb burgers with sweet potato fries." Just the thought of it made his stomach rumble. He would have to grab a snack before he got started.

* * *

_The darkness wanted to shout at the man, intensely irritated by his denseness. How could Risu be so blind to what he had done? The intricate work, the gems and glues that were designed specifically to make the spell permanent? And then, the perfect channel of Earth…_

_The map was a relic. It would never fade._

* * *

"Apprentice!"

"Uh?" Risu looked up from the work he was doing to the castle walls. Maleficent had decided it was time to spruce the place up with her own style, so now he was putting in special tiles with a rose and thorns motif. He heartily approved of the move. It would break up the whiteness of the walls nicely. "Yes, Mistress?" He paused his work, reaching up to push his goggles back up onto his forehead. They gave him very useful displays when he was doing anything vaguely technical, but were a pain when he was talking to people.

"I'll need you to prepare refreshments for tomorrow for six visitors," she instructed him, and he blinked. This was the first time he'd ever heard of Maleficent having company. "I want appetizers and finger foods ready for about 3 o'clock. Make it good apprentice." Risu looked down at the tiles he had been working on, and immediately began putting his tools away. He would need to start planning a menu and shopping immediately.

"May I ask what the occasion is, Mistress?" Risu was really quite curious. "And will Pete and I be attending?" That was to make sure of the headcount. Maleficent might just be leaving them out. She rolled her eyes expressively.

"Not Pete. He's useless. But you… can you play bridge?" Risu blinked at the non-sequitur.

"Uh… yes, actually. Very well." The game was commonly played on his world, probably imported at some point from somewhere else. Or maybe it had spread out from them, who knew? And it had been quite popular with the technicians. Risu hadn't been welcome in a lot of social events, but the bridge team had needed players. "It's a bridge party?" She nodded, looking pleased with him. Oddly, it didn't surprise him. Risu was sure Maleficent would be an excellent bridge player. "I'll start preparing immediately."

"Good." Maleficent stepped closer and examined the tiling for a moment, then, to his surprise, laid a hand on his shoulder. "I know I haven't told you this, but you're really exceptional for an apprentice." She waved a hand, encompassing the work he had been doing. "Most apprentices would have whined, moaned, or done a terrible job. And if they did this well, they would be terrible at the magic instead." Risu thought she was speaking from experience. That would explain her reluctance to take him in the first place.

"You're complimented me twice today, Mistress. Should I be worried?" Risu said humorously. Maleficent tended to ladle out praise with a teaspoon. She laughed and squeezed his shoulder before letting go.

"Perhaps. But not until tomorrow." Risu watched her leave, a small small tugging at the corners of his lips.

He liked her. It really made no sense… she was evil to the core and only trustworthy in that they had a contract… but he liked her.

* * *

_Riku,_

_I know you've probably been a bit worried about me. I'm doing great, but I'm not sure when I'll get time off to come see you. As you can see by how this letter arrived, I'm learning magic now. It's going pretty well, although apprenticeship can be a real pain. I've been doing a lot of tiling lately. How are things going with you? Just put a letter where this one showed up and I'll get it. Oh, is Axel paying you my retainer? If he's not get onto him for that. I had to rework one of the fusion coils recently, and I should charge him extra for that._

_-Risu_

* * *

_Risu,_

_Where are you?!?_

_-Riku_

* * *

Risu looked over the trays of food and they way they were presented, and found he was satisfied.

The snowy white linens he had found in a closet were perfect for this. The odd little edging pattern matched the rest of the castle and made him wonder what occasions the Nobodies had used them for. Or even if they had been used at all. Had Xemnas gotten them just for completeness?

The food on them was all looking extremely good. Sandwiches with homemade bread, little spring rolls, bite sized mini pizzas and a good variety of chicken skewers made an appetizing spread. And the deserts were an excellent selection of tarts and cupcakes, made the day before. For drinks, he had brought out some good wines and also made a pitcher of hot rum punch. He thought it would make a very good impression.

Risu tugged on his collar, frowning slightly. It was uncomfortably high necked, but Maleficent had told him straight out that his jumpsuit was not acceptable wear for this. Not that Risu was fond of his jumpsuit, fashion wise. But it was a technical garment that offered protection from electrical shocks and was very difficult to cut. It even offered some padding against blows and for that he appreciated it immensely.

But now he was wearing a suit Maleficent had designed for him. It was a black robe, robes being absolutely the normal wear for wizards. Risu wasn't sure he would ever adjust to that. Trousers were mandatory on his world. There was no hint of color on the robes at all, and his belt was black leather with a wrought iron, filigreed belt buckle that had been worked into a gleaming shine. His collar had matching iron filigree. Along with his long silver hair, green eyes and pale skin the effect was really quite striking. But he would still be glad to be back in his jumpsuit. He was still wearing his goggles, pushed up on his forehead. Those, he wasn't giving up.

_Perhaps I should think about designing something that looks… wizardly, but is comfortable for me to wear._ Risu mused. The clothes didn't make the man, but he could see how people would find it hard to take him seriously as a wizard in his technician's jumpsuit.

Thoughts of fashion left as the first visitors were let in by Pete. A short, stout little wizard in a dark blue robe was the first. He bustled in a jolly fashion, and smiled at Risu amiably. "Hello lad. Where's your Mistress?" Then he spotted the food tables. "Oh my!" He made a beeline for the food, immediately snagging a chicken skewer. "What a lovely lot of treats." He chewed with enjoyment, and Risu couldn't help but like him.

Of course, he didn't trust him an inch. He was in Maleficent's social circle, after all.

"She'll be arriving soon, Master." Risu replied respectfully. Like a student calling all professors Sir, even if he didn't take their classes, an apprentice had to show respect to all wizards and witches. The wizard laughed a free, inviting laugh.

"When we're all here so she can make a dramatic entrance? Well, I'm Magus Larue lad. And if you've heard anything about me, half of it is lies. But I'm not saying which half." He started investigating the wine decanters, and was pouring himself a glass of red when a lady floated in. Risu blinked. She was clearly a fairy, with flaxen hair, huge blue eyes and wings that looked like they had come from the most exotic of butterflies. Her gown was gossamer silk, and hid nothing of lithe curves.

As beautiful as she was, she was immediately off-putting to him. Despite not working too well on people, the predatory coldness radiating from her was so strong that he could pick it up with his telepathy. When she smiled at him, he had to resist the urge to flinch.

"Hello." Her voice was soft, breathy and deceptively innocent. "You must be Risu, Maleficent's new apprentice. I'm Beryl." She fluttered over to the table and took a glass of the punch, then a watercress and cream cheese sandwich.

"Greetings, Mistress." She smiled at him again, and even if he hadn't sensed her coldness immediately Risu thought he would have noticed the calculation in her eyes.

One by one, the other wizards and witches filed in. Risu tried to fix them in his mind. There was Maelgrun, a tall dark haired man who seemed to be a druid of some sort. He wore robes of rough homespun cloth and liked the wine. There was a wizened old wizard who seemed to have no name at all, and Risu found himself completely unable to fix his face into his memory. Apparently that was some kind of curse. And the last two were a pair of witches, twin sisters who seemed to despise each other. They were constantly interrupting each other and having low level quarrels. They were named Talis and Maris.

"Greetings!" Maleficent strode into the room, making her grand entrance to the audience. "You haven't been waiting long I trust?" Everyone politely denied waiting long, and the party began.

At first they simply socialized, and Risu found it interesting. There was some professional rivalry and one-upmanship, but more shop talk… professionals discussing their recent triumphs and innovations. Risu listened intently and tried not to say much.

"And this is my latest relic!" Larue flourished a copper wand. It had a small red crystal imbedded in the end. "Meant for the uninitiated, of course, it's charged with a fire cyclone spell. Nice, eh?" He set the wand on the table, turning it so the runes on it were easy to look at. Risu took a glance and was… disappointed. It was a simple firaga combined with a cyclone, but the runes weren't coupled together in any way. It was like two separate spells being cast at once, instead of one synergistic spell. The inscribing was perfect and he could sense the power of it, but in terms of design he could have done better. "Not too impressed, lad?" Larue asked with a twinkle in his eye, and Risu mentally cursed himself. Had he let that slip in his expression or was the wizard just very perceptive?

"It's a fine piece of work." Risu tried to leave it at that. He really didn't want to offend anyone.

"But not the way you would have done it?" Larue's smile widened and Risu frowned faintly, certain the wizard was toying with him. "What would you have changed, lad?" Risu bristled slightly at the faint patronizing tone. It irritated him enough that he responded truthfully.

"Well, I would have put in a coupling here…" He gently touched the spot between the two runes. "To turn the two spells into one greater spell. It would make the channeling more difficult, of course, since you would have to channel fire and air for the final seal. But I'm sure that would be no difficulty for a Master such as yourself." Risu couldn't quite keep the bite out of his tone. He hated being patronized. Larue's eyes narrowed, but before he could say anything Maelgrun spoke.

"The pattern of thorns. He's right, it would have been stronger that way. But where did you learn of the pattern?" Risu blinked at that, and realized Maelgrun must be referring to something peculiar to his own style of magic.

"I… didn't. I had to make up a light based pattern to serve as a coupler." That attracted everyone's attention, and Risu suddenly wondered, uneasily, how much of an achievement making a new rune was. He hadn't thought anything of it, since he'd modified and tested all kinds of runes to make his map. Creating a coupler out of basic light elements hadn't seemed like much of a stretch.

"The things we can learn from our apprentices!" Larue laughed. "Why don't you show us, lad?" Risu caught the faint frown on Maleficent's face, and hesitated.

"A wonderful idea," she said smoothly, and he blinked. "Fetch the pattern, Risu."

_Damned if I'm going back to my quarters…_ Risu pulled down his goggles and made a request. They obligingly generated a perfect VR representation of his work room. With a quick spell, it was the simplest thing in the world to bring back his grimoire. It smacked into his hands, and he laid it on the table, pushing his goggles back. The design of the map had been too large to fit into the pages of his book, so he'd turned it into a fold out. He carefully opened it, unfolding the design.

"This is the design for my map… you can see the couplings here, here and here." He pointed to the designs. "They're all light based, but they could be darkness based. It just needs something neutral to serve as a conduit." The wizards and witches examined it curiously.

"Each one is different." Maelgrun gently touched the design. "You changed them for each rune?" Risu nodded. It had partly been instinct, partly logic and a lot of trial and error to figure out how to customize the couplings for each set of runes. "That is just like the pattern of thorns then. Masterful. You will be powerful someday."

"The things we can learn from our apprentices!" Larue laughed heartily. "Although clever apprentices can be their own trial, eh Maleficent?" She smiled placidly at him.

"He's as hard-working as he is able, and I am aware of his greatest desire." Larue's eyes glittered at that reply, and while he didn't lose his smile, Risu could pick up the hostility. Maleficent was needling him somehow. "But perhaps we should begin the game?" She gestured to the tables where the cards and tallies were waiting.

The rest of the party went fairly uneventfully… the bridge was fun, and Risu quickly picked up his old knack for it. When everyone had left for the night, he started cleaning up the room and stopped as he realized Maleficent was watching him.

"You revealed too much, apprentice. Why didn't you mention your work to me?" She didn't sound angry, only curious.

"I didn't want to disturb you," Risu answered truthfully, then grimaced. "I'm sorry… Master Larue irritated me." He knew he had revealed too much, to people who couldn't be trusted in the least. Maleficent waved a hand. The party had gone very well and she was in a forgiving mood.

"He's good at that. But be more careful in the future. And while I appreciate that you don't want to disturb me, please bring me anything original you do." An apprentice that could actually create original things needed to be watched carefully…


	6. Stolen!

Risu stood on the edge of a balcony, trying to prepare himself for his experiment.

There were metal cords strung between the battlements of the castle in the World that Never Was. White metal cords. What they were for, he had no idea, but Risu had a novel idea of how to use them. He had been practicing channeling the power of air into a kind of force field, without words and steadily. He had used it to fly, after a fashion, by 'pushing' on nearby buildings to force him up. That did exert pressure on his body, though, and more pressure the higher he pushed himself. Still, it was useful.

Today, though, he was thinking of taking it a step further. He had worked out all the calculations and this should work. Still, he was nervous.

_Of course I'm nervous._ Risu told himself with a wry smile. _This is daft. Am I doing it just to distract myself from replying to Riku?_ It had been several days, and he still couldn't think of what to say. He didn't want to lie to his brother, but Riku's short reply hadn't given him much wiggle room. Which was likely the point.

Taking slow, deep breaths, Risu began channeling air. Then, when he was sure he was perfectly centered, he stepped out onto the metal cord.

He began sliding down it, balancing perfectly. Air formed a cushion under his foot, almost frictionless and spreading his weight over the length of the cord. As he speeded up, his hair flowed behind him like a curtain of silver and Risu felt exhilarated by the power and danger of it. He quickly started to pick up an alarming amount of speed, but he'd calculated that and planned for it-

"RISU!" Risu's head jerked to the right, startled by the familiar voice. He had just enough time to see Riku and Sora on a balcony below him before he realized he'd lost his connection to Air-

The heel of his left foot hit the metal cord, yanking his foot back and sending him whipping forward in a wild reaction. The cord snapped with a twang, but not before his foot crunched gruesomely. The pain and pleasure were white hot as he went flying into space.

_Damn!_ Desperation gave him the focus to call on the darkness, and Risu armored his heart against it as he used it to create a gentle, slowing push against the wall. He quickly realized he wasn't going to be able to shed enough velocity, and bounced himself towards a far wall as Riku and Sora watched in horror, trying to figure out what they could do.

It took several bounces before he had shed his forward momentum, but when he had he created a path of darkness below him and let himself fall. Risu braced himself as the cold darkness flowed through him, and then dumped him in a heap beside Sora and Riku.

"Have you ever heard," he said hoarsely as Riku knelt beside him, eyes wide. "That yelling at a tight-rope walker isn't a great idea?" Risu looked down at his foot and winced. It was twisted at an angle that clearly indicated broken, if not smashed bones. "Could you undo the zip ties on my boot and yank it off, please?" The pleasure/pain was intense and making it hard to think, but he didn't want to damage the boot. It was also from his world and perfectly fitted.

"If you had let me know where you were when I asked…" Riku retorted as he worked at the ties, then yanked the boot off in one quick motion. "I'm sorry, Risu." He really was sorry for getting his brother hurt, although he was still pissed off in several different ways. Risu sighed, and began channeling the light into a curaga spell. His nanites could have handled the damage in a couple hours, but he would need to walk now.

"I'm sorry too, Riku. I should have been more honest with you but I knew you wouldn't like it." Risu tentatively moved his foot, grimacing at the way it felt. Even with the spells he'd have to be careful on it for a while. He worked off his other boot, carefully standing up. Sora put an arm around him, and he accepted the help gratefully. Riku was watching him, arms crossed. Risu sighed. "Can we take this to the kitchen so Maleficent or Pete don't interrupt us?" They both only ventured into the kitchen now to make requests, and it was nowhere near lunch time.

"Fine." Riku said shortly, and Risu sighed to himself, scooping up his boots with one hand and walking barefoot to the kitchen.

Sora glanced around curiously and Riku leaned against a wall, arms crossed, as Risu took a pot off the warmer and sniffed it with a frown. "The coffee's a bit old… would you like some tea? Drinking chocolate?"

"Drinking chocolate? That sounds interesting, can I have some of that?" Sora found a stool and hopped onto it. Risu smiled faintly.

"Sure." He started preparing some dulce de leche drinking chocolate. It was like hot chocolate, only better… incredibly rich and thick. He also put together a dark chocolate one for himself.

"Stop avoiding me Risu." Riku growled, and Risu winced. That was precisely what he was doing. He had no problem with confrontations when he was right, but vastly preferred to avoid them when he was wrong and had no good defense. But then, didn't everyone? "What are you doing with Maleficent? You know what she's like." Risu stirred the chocolate, handing Sora his before he replied.

"Yes, I know what she's like Riku, and I'm sorry. But I need to learn magic and Merlin wouldn't teach me because I have a dark heart, whatever that means." Risu took too big a drink of his chocolate and winced as it burnt his mouth. The nanites mended the damage so quickly he hardly noticed the pleasure of it. "I needed to learn from someone who wouldn't care about that, and the only one I knew about was Maleficent. We have a mutually beneficial relationship." Riku regarded that with deep suspicion as Sora sipped his drink and blinked.

"This is great! But how do you know Maleficent isn't trying to corrupt you?" Sora asked and Riku smiled slightly.

"It's an apprenticeship, Sora. That's a signed contract. I'm not saying she wouldn't be willing to use me if I let her, but she doesn't have to. For ten years or until she says I'm a master, I'll do almost anything she wants." He shifted slightly and reached up to scratch the back of his neck. "So why would she want to corrupt me? The longer I'm untouched by the darkness, the longer I'm useful to her."

"Wait. Ten years?" Riku suddenly cut in. "You're going to be here ten _years?_ That's forever!" Risu blinked.

"No, it's just a decade." He felt even more confused as the two boys stared at him as if he were insane. "I'm forty-three. I'll only be fifty-three…" Sora and Riku exchanged a look.

"You sure don't look forty. You look, well… just a little older than us." Sora said, tilting his head as he looked at Risu. If he'd had to guess, he would have pegged Risu's age at perhaps twenty-five, thirty at the most. He would never have guessed the other was well into middle age. Risu frowned, then stopped as he realized something.

"Sora, Riku… my nanite systems don't just heal me. They prevent aging." He said gently. "Forty-three is young. My people usually live to two hundred, and we CAN live much longer than that. I think the longest anyone has lived was a thousand years." He hesitated a moment, then said to Riku. "Part of it is genetic modifications as well. You'll have those… you'll live much longer than normal and age very slowly." Risu knew that Riku would age, but the effects would be much less obvious than for most people. And he would remain fit for longer. Riku swallowed, then shook his head.

"That's still a long time." He took up the original argument. "And you know what Maleficent tried to do to me. How can you help her like this?" Riku stared into Risu's eyes, his own dark and angry, and saw a matching flare of anger in his brother's eyes.

"I want to be free. I need to be free." Risu took a deep breath, suppressing the sudden urge to break something… anything. "Or I'm not going to make it past a hundred. My rage is destroying me. Can't you see that?" To Risu, it was clear as day. His rages against his programming were constantly wearing at his sanity. Things had gotten incomparably better since he had left his own world, but they were far from perfect. "I'm sorry I wasn't a better brother to you." Risu looked down. That part of it really did bother him. There was a tense silence between them, then Riku finally sighed.

"You do what you have to do, I guess. I'm not your keeper. Merlin said you had a keyblade?" Risu nodded at the change of topic. "Can we see it? What's it called?" Risu summoned up the blade, and the two younger boys looked at it closely. Sora reached out to touch it, then pulled his hand back at the intense cold. Riku frowned… even from where he was standing, he could feel the temperature going down.

"Called?" Risu looked at the sword. It had never occurred to him that the keyblade had a name, but now that they had asked he found he knew. "It's the Frozen Circuit."

"It suits you," Riku said neutrally, and Risu looked up at him, wondering why that comment stung. "Have you-" The door suddenly slammed open as Pete barged into the kitchen.

"Risu! We got problems, Maleficent's been stolen- HUH!" Pete spotted the two boys and hunkered down, ready to strike. "I shoulda known it was all you kids!" Sora jumped up, his keyblade appearing, and Riku called in his as well. Risu mentally cursed. This was exactly what he had not wanted to happen.

"Pete-" But Pete was ignoring him, and Risu's eyes slitted with his sudden anger. "PETE!" He threw his cup at the wall and it shattered right beside Pete's head. Chocolate dripped down the white wall and Pete yelped, clutching his head protectively for a moment.

"Hey! Watch where you're throwing that! Why I oughta… you're in it with them, ain't you? I shoulda known you were up to no good!" Pete bounced back and forth and Risu took a deep breath before speaking calmly.

"Pete, pretend for a moment I'm a complete moron. What the HELL are you babbling about? Maleficent would be kidnapped, not stolen." Although he couldn't imagine anyone kidnapping Maleficent. "And Sora and Riku came by to visit me. They've been in the kitchen the whole time." That brought Pete's thoughts back to what had brought him here in the first place.

"It was terrible! Risu, you gotta do something! We were up on the battlements looking over the place and Maleficent was telling me what to do and this big bird swooped by! It dropped a necklace onto her and she turned into a little doll and the bird stole her!" Risu's eyes widened at the description, and he grabbed Pete's shoulder.

"Take me up there now." He ordered, and Pete obeyed, relieved to have someone around who knew what to do. Sora and Riku exchanged mystified glances, but followed Risu as they hurried up to the battlement.

Risu had no idea what mischief was afoot, but if it was magical he needed to see the scene of the crime immediately. There might still be traces.

"She was standing right there." Pete pointed at the spot, and Risu immediately spotted a gold chain with a pendant lying on the ground. He picked it up, looking at the flat side.

"This is the necklace?" Pete nodded mutely, and Risu examined it carefully, impressed. A pattern had been worked into it with a jeweler's skill, only moreso. He thought it must have been done by a machine. The lines were too precise and far, far too small. He had to magnify his vision to really appreciate it. And the swirling magical eddies on the balcony were dark, very dark, but without the slightly odd tinge that accompanied Maleficent's fairy based magic. He'd become very familiar with her magical signature and this wasn't it.

But defeating her defenses so thoroughly shouldn't have been easy. Unless the attack had been carefully prepared with a victim in mind.

"Who woulda done this?" Pete said, distraught, and Riku snorted.

"Who wouldn't have?" He muttered, loudly enough for everyone to hear, and Risu smiled and spoke before Pete could take offense.

"You have a point, but the timing is interesting." He let the pendant dangle from his fingers for a moment, and then turned it so he could see the other side. His fingers had told him it was enameled with an intricate design. But he wasn't expecting what he saw, and stiffened with shock.

"Risu, are you okay? What's wrong?" Sora gripped his shoulder, then looked down at the pendant. "Woah, that's pretty!" The back of the pendant was worked into an intricate design of a continent, with tiny trees and flowers and people on it. It was an extreme miniaturization of a design that was usually done larger, and it had to have been machine made. No jeweler could do such a thing.

It was also completely familiar to Risu. He'd grown up seeing the design on any official documents, real or internet based.

"It's the official seal of my world," he said softly, lifting it up. "Why would it be here? Is it a message to me? It doesn't make any sense." Shaking himself out of his confusion, he turned to look at the others. "Let's go down to… the library. There's nothing more to learn here." But he had a few ideas of who the best suspects were, and how to begin to search.


	7. Magus Larue

Risu frowned, slamming a book shut. To the bewilderment of everyone, he had immediately gotten several of the books down from the shelves and started perusing them intently. It only took him a few moments to find what he wanted.

"Okay." Risu took a deep breath, looking at them. He wasn't sure he could trust Sora and Riku to help… they had absolutely no reason to… so Pete would have to be the one he counted on. He might not be competent, but he was loyal. "The way I see this, there's a couple different possibilities and quite likely they're connected."

"The timing is highly suspicious." Sora opened his mouth to say something, but Risu ignored him, looking at Pete. "It's only been a few days since the bridge party. That would have given someone time to abstract something of Maleficent's at the party and use it to key the spell to her." Pete scratched his head.

"But why would they want t'do that? I mean… they weren't her good buddies, maybe, but none of them were enemies." Maleficent wouldn't have invited an outright enemy to her castle. Riku broke in.

"Wait, Maleficent had a _party?_" He had trouble picturing that. Risu smiled, amused.

"A lot of people like bridge, Riku, and it requires four people to play." He pointed out. "The other possibility is that this is completely unconnected to the party. If that's the case, it's probably connected to whoever Maleficent has been tormenting the past couple months." Risu reflected ruefully on the love potion tarts and the curse. Someone had gotten her back up. "Or it could be both."

"Y'think… oh! Y'think someone mighta hired one of those guys at the party to do this to her?" Risu nodded, pleased that Pete had grasped his idea so quickly.

"Exactly. That leaves us with six suspects." Risu tapped the book he had been looking at, then lifted up the pendant. "I really didn't like him, but we can eliminate Larue right off. He didn't make this. That relic he showed us was a completely different style, and this book was written by him." Risu flipped through the pages, and settled on a full illustration of a spell. "Completely different style. We can eliminate Maris and Talis on the same basis… they wrote these books." And it was clear from looking at them that they were classic witches and didn't much care for runes. Certainly not ones machine made.

"Risu… are you thinking this through?" Risu blinked at Riku, surprised. "Why are you doing this? You don't owe Maleficent anything, and you'll be going up against someone who waltzed through her protections like they weren't even there." Risu's face darkened for a moment, and then he stopped.

_Riku does have a point. Why AM I doing this?_ It had never crossed his mind to think about NOT going to rescue Maleficent. Why?

It didn't take him long to have an answer.

"Riku, if I were apprenticed to Merlin or Yen Sid, would you be saying that?" Risu said gently, and Riku frowned. "I'm her apprentice and I owe her for taking me on. Not just that… she's my teacher and I respect her. I'm not going to let anyone do this to her on my watch." The obligation was too real, too immediate, for him to even consider not meeting it. He really did respect Maleficent. "You don't have to help, but I need to do this." He didn't really expect Riku and Sora to help. Why should they?

"Of course I'll help!" Riku snapped. "You're my brother, even if I think you're insane." Risu blinked, then grinned crookedly.

"Thanks. I can't really deny the charge…" He tapped the books, getting back to the main point. "Anyway. That leaves Beryl, Maelgrun and the nameless wizard."

"Nameless? What do you mean?" Sora tilted his head to one side and Risu frowned.

"He was a wizard without a name. I couldn't even tell you what he looked like… he just doesn't stick in the memory. He was there and he was a pretty good bridge player is all I can say." Even the bridge part tried to slip away, but with hands to help him remember he was able to keep it in focus. "Apparently it's some kind of curse on him. To be honest, I think he might be the best suspect. I have a few problems with the other two."

"Oh?" Sora sat down at the table and watched him attentively, inviting Risu to continue.

"Beryl is a fairy. The magic on the balcony was dark, but it didn't have that 'fairy' feel Maleficent's does." Risu explained. "And Maelgrun is a druid. They tend to be more into traditional magic, and this isn't really druidic writings. I also liked him, although that doesn't mean much. But the nameless wizard is still the best candidate."

"And you have no idea where to find him." Riku stated, and Risu nodded.

"None whatsoever. We'll have to start with Larue… I actually have a street address for him and I recognize the world." Risu tapped the book Magus Larue had written. It had an address to send correspondence to. "Maybe he'll know where to find the others." Although Risu doubted his help would be free. As charming as the Magus had been, in a lot of ways, Risu was sure he didn't do anything for free.

* * *

"THIS is where a wizard lives?" Sora asked disbelievingly, and Risu consulted his note again before nodding.

It was a small, comfortable building snuggled into a residential district. There was a wrote iron gate leading to a small courtyard with several well trimmed trees, and then the house itself. It was a stately, two story building made out of grey stone.

It fit in perfectly with all the other houses on the block and for all its elegance, seemed completely non-magical in every way. Comfortable but not luxurious. For a moment, Risu thought a bit better of Magus Larue. Then he frowned, wondering what Larue's vices were if not wealth and power. It was an unsettling thought.

Pushing that out of his mind, Risu walked up to the gate and pushed a little knob beside it. A voice spoke out of mid-air.

"Yes? How can I help you?" It was a young woman's voice. Risu replied easily as the others glanced around.

"This is Apprentice Risu, here on behalf of Maleficent. I would like to speak to Magus Larue if he's available?" There was a brief pause, and then the voice spoke again.

"He is out at the moment, actually. But if you want to wait in the parlor he should be returning anytime."

"We would be honored," Risu said politely. "There are three of us, I trust that won't be a problem?" If it would, a few of them could get lost for a while. There was a tavern down the street. Risu had decided to leave Pete behind at the castle for now… someone needed to make sure more Nobodies didn't try to move in.

"Not at all." The voice reassured him, and the gates swung open. "Please come in, I'll meet you." Risu and the others stepped inside, the gates swinging shut behind them. Risu noted the runes worked into the walls of the courtyard… completely invisible from outside, but clear when you came in. But there was nothing really odd about having house defenses. Merlin didn't have them but Risu suspected Yen Sid did, from what he'd heard of the tower he'd used to live at.

A pretty girl appeared in the doorway, wrapped in a shawl and smiling at them. She had shiny black hair and bright blue, friendly eyes, but Risu could immediately sense the magic on and around her. But he had armed himself with some protections, and the magic eddied safely around him. A touch worried, he glanced around-

And suppressed a sigh as he saw Sora and Riku gaping at her. Clearly her magic was some kind of attraction.

"Right this way." She turned and led them to the parlor. Risu noted, amused, that Riku and Sora were both watching her very shapely backside as she walked.

The parlor was a simple but comfortable room, with off-white walls, creamy chairs and some elegant paintings. She smiled and gestured for them to take a seat.

"I'll go get you some refreshments. I'm Rhia, by the way."

"Thank you, we would appreciate that." Risu replied. "I'm Risu, this is Sora and this is Riku." He introduced them, then took a seat, glancing around.

"She's beautiful!" Sora said reverently once Rhia was out of earshot, and Risu smiled ironically.

"She's pretty enough." Riku and Sora both gave him an odd look. To them, she'd been a vision of pure loveliness. "She's a bit magically enhanced though." Risu thought he knew what Larue had done. He'd taken an already pretty girl and enhanced her with an aura that made her instantly striking. Risu wondered a bit why he had done that to Rhia, but it was most certainly not his business. A little plate of refreshments came out, floating on thin air, and Risu took a cup of coffee with a murmur of thanks. He wasn't sure the spell servant could understand, but many types could and courtesy never hurt.

"I was wondering. How did you guys find me so quickly?" They hadn't given him a lot of time to reply to Riku's note, so he thought they must have found him almost instantly when they decided to search. That was odd. Travel Happens had logs on where it went, but how would they know how to search them?

"Oh, Merlin helped us with some spells. Apparently it's easy to track blood relatives. We did almost go to the wrong place though." Riku replied casually, sipping his coffee, then stopped at the look on Risu's face. "Risu?"

Risu felt breathless with rage. His eyes were wide and glazed as he glared at a far wall, his thoughts churning. _They could have died. They could have been killed or worse… far worse! And it would have been my fault and Merlin's too. Old FOOL! Idiots! Cretins!_ But Risu knew he was most to blame, and lashed himself with his rage like a whip.

"Risu?!"

_They have no idea what they almost walked into. I'm a fool! I should have at least warned him!_

"Risu!"

Hands on his arm jolted him back to awareness, and Risu blinked as he looked into Riku's eyes, then down at the cup he was holding. It was a sturdy ceramic thing, but it was still on the verge of shattering. Risu took a deep breath and carefully, ever so carefully set the mug on the table as he leashed his anger.

"Riku, you put yourself and Sora in terrible danger." Riku's eyes widened, and Sora blinked. Risu favored him with a glare. "You should have known that Sora! Remember how I left the repair station?" Sora looked dismayed, but he didn't understand, not really. How could he? He had been in the repair station for only a few hours, and it hadn't been a world anyway. "Look… Riku, your other blood relatives are spread out over Harmony, Reason and Purity. If the two of you had shown up in the Travel Happens, it would have been immediately impounded as stolen property and the two of you would have been killed… or taken for reorientation or implantation, which is worse." Risu's voice was harsh as he continued. "I'm a citizen and I've been playing with the Travel Happens programming, so I might be able to go there and get out but there is no way the two of you could. An order by a citizen takes precedent over a non-citizen, period." Risu managed a cold, bitter smile. "This is mostly my fault. I should have told you where I was."

"Risu… don't worry about it. There was no real danger." Riku said briskly. He didn't want to see Risu like this, bitter and cold. "We figured you had to be the one that was in the World that Never Was." Risu just looked at him for a moment, and then finally nodded, taking that at face value. He had the feeling it might not be entirely true, but it was still comforting.

Then Magus Larue walked into the room, looking distinctly out of breath, and Risu blinked. Why would he hurry? He glanced around alertly, then frowned at Risu.

"You need to watch your temper a bit more closely, lad." Risu started in surprise, and Larue smiled thinly. "I think every mage in the city felt that blast of darkness."

"Er… thank you, sir. I'll keep that in mind." Risu wasn't about to admit that as far as he'd been able to tell, he hadn't been channeling any darkness at all. Could he have completely missed it in the fit of temper? "Actually, I came to see you about something else though. Maleficent has been kidnapped." Risu had decided it was best to just be blunt about that. Magus Larue lifted an eyebrow as he took a seat.

"Oh? That sounds dreadful. You wouldn't happen to be suspecting me, would you?" He said lightly, but Risu could catch the threat under the words.

"I would never suspect you of such a lowly deed," Risu said courteously, and had the pleasure of seeing Larue's eyes glitter. Firmly reminding himself that needling the mage was counterproductive, he continued. "Since the item we found doesn't match your style at all. Actually, I was hoping you could point me in the right direction. If you have the addresses for Beryl, Maelgrun and the nameless wizard?" Larue looked thoughtful for a moment.

"I might. But what are you offering for the information?" Risu smiled thinly and pulled out a piece of paper, carefully unfolding it.

"A copy of the plans for my magic map. It's a very intricate piece of work, if only an apprentice piece and I'm sure you could make use of it, sir." He was also sure that if Larue was anything like Maleficent, he was a compulsive hoarder of information. Most wizards and witches were… the most common spells were easy enough to remember, but anything truly intricate needed to be written down and referred to at need. All powerful wizards and witches had a grimoire with their most commonly used spells.

"I'm sure I could," Larue said gravely, and picked up the paper and made it vanish. "Beryl lives in the world of Faerie, most of the time, in the Seelie court. It's a bit perilous, but I'm sure you'll manage. Maelgrun lives in Caelan, in a village named Afton. Let me show you…" Larue offered his hand and Risu took it, wincing as the magus intoned a spell and gave him the feel of the corridors of darkness he would need to walk to reach both places. It was a bit complicated, but the Travel Happens didn't have places listed by the same names most people used. Often, its systems listed everything by number. Risu would have to take a corridor, summon the vehicle then get a bearing. "There. I hope I've been helpful?"

"Not entirely, sir. The nameless wizard?" Risu reminded him, and Larue blinked as if he'd entirely forgotten. Which, Risu reflected, was likely. The wizard just wouldn't stay in your head unless you thought hard about him.

"Oh… I can't help you there. I know nothing about him." Risu nodded, unsurprised.

"Hey… if the wizard is so hard to remember, how did Maleficent remember him to invite him?" Sora suddenly asked, and Risu frowned as Larue looked thoughtful.

"Perhaps her mind was clearer because she is a fairy?" Larue didn't sound very confident of his hypothesis. But then he shrugged. "If that's the case, perhaps you need to ask Beryl where he is." Risu nodded slowly.

"Thank you for your time, sir." He said politely and stood. "We can show ourselves out." Larue nodded, rising briskly.

"Good hunting. And watch your temper, lad!"

When they were outside, Risu turned to Sora and Riku. "Did I really channel darkness when I lost my temper?" Sora was reluctant to answer, but Riku responded frankly.

"A lot. There was frost on the floor where you were sitting."

"Oh." Risu fell silent as he considered that. He hadn't even felt it. What did that mean? He would have to examine himself further…

* * *

_The darkness inside Risu's mind was dismayed._

_Something had gone wrong. Everything had been going perfectly… when Risu had channeled darkness to survive the airwalking incident, it had absorbed quite a lot of darkness. It had grown stronger, more itself, and had begun planning the attack._

_Until Risu's moment of rage._

_The darkness had seized it, tried to use it, and that had backfired badly. It had absorbed even more darkness but was somehow… tied to Risu's rage. It had tried to gently pull away without Risu noticing, and had found it was locked as firmly as if it had tied itself to a granite boulder. There would be no leaving Risu for Riku again._

_At first that worried the darkness, but then there was a mental shrug._

_It would just have to win._


	8. Maelgrun

Risu whistled tunelessly as the Travel Happens glided slowly through the void between worlds. This, he knew, was going to be a long trip.

"So where are we going first?" Sora poked his head into the front seat, between Risu and Riku. Risu smiled as Riku casually bopped him on the top of the head. "Hey!"

"We're going to Maelgrun's world. Hopefully, we'll be able to avoid going to Fairyland entirely." Risu was not looking forward to that in the least, littlest bit. Sora blinked, tilting his head at him.

"Why? Most of the fairies I've met have been really nice, except Maleficent." As far as Sora could tell, she was the exception to the rule, so how could Fairyland be unpleasant? Risu hesitated a moment, then tried to explain.

"I asked Maleficent what a good book about faeries would be, and she put me onto the Booke of Faerie. Apparently, there are plenty of good fairies in Fairyland, but the thing is… they don't live at the court." Risu scratched the back of his neck for a moment, thinking. "Apparently, the Seelie court is the 'good' faerie court. But really, all that means is the evil is… less obvious. Think of the court as place where the really powerful, really nasty fairies go to hammer out who's in charge and who's on the bottom, licking boots."

"Was Maleficent ever a member?" Riku asked, and Risu nodded. Sora sat back in his seat, content to listen.

"She was a member of the Unseelie court… that's the obviously evil ones… for a while. But the Queen of the Unseelie court has made herself unassailable and the court as a whole is best described as decadent, so she gave it up." Maleficent had said a bit more, in pithy terms, but he wasn't going to share that with two impressionable youngsters. "Anyway, the point is that the Seelie court will screw you over as hard as the Unseelie, and they tend to be nasty about it. I don't have any interest in getting glamoured into anything." If they had to go to Fairyland, he'd have to spend considerable time casting protective spells… and Risu wasn't entirely certain they would hold. Fairy magic was much stronger in Fairyland.

"Hm." Riku gazed thoughtfully into the void, then asked, "So have you gotten anywhere finding a way to get rid of your conditioning?"

"Not really," Risu had to admit. "I've been trying to modify a certain spell, but I think I've reached a dead end on it."

"What spell is that?" Sora popped his head out again, and got bopped again. "Riku, stop that!" Risu grinned.

"Well, it's a spell that creates a temporary duplicate of the caster." He explained and they blinked. "It looks and reacts like real flesh, but it's actually just a shell of darkness and light mixed together and held in place but the caster's will. It can be manipulated like a puppet. The main reason for it is just to use it to convince a rival that you're dead. It takes several hours for the 'body' to vanish when the replica is killed, so it's pretty easy to convince someone you've died if they're not looking for it. My idea was that I could transplant my heart and soul to the replica… it wouldn't have my nanites and AI systems, so I would lose my longevity but I would be free."

"The problem," Risu frowned slightly. "Is that I can't figure out any way to experiment. I'm not about to work on unwilling test subjects and I can't just try it on myself without a better idea of how the heart and soul connect… I'd likely just turn myself into a Heartless." Riku and Sora both shuddered at the idea.

"Don't do that! And never use unwilling test subjects, please?" Sora said fervently. That reminded him all too much of Ansem/Xehanort. Risu smiled faintly.

"I wouldn't dream of it. I might not be a nice person, but I have limits." He definitely did. Risu would have no problems laying curses or using love potions to mess someone up if they offended him or if Maleficent wanted it done, but he drew the line at deliberately hurting someone for his own gain. Which might be splitting hairs… the people he had helped Maleficent torment probably didn't deserve it… but still. It was a line he could live with. "So before you got pulled into this… how were your classes doing?"

"Pretty good actually. I love the carving…" Riku started, and Risu smiled, listening to the details of their lives.

He was actually glad the trip was taking longer than normal. It was good to catch up.

* * *

"This place smells." Riku said firmly as they walked down towards the village.

"Way to make friends and influence people, Riku." Risu said, amused. He'd never really been noted for tact, but he'd had it pounded into him over several decades. Riku clearly hadn't. _It's amazing, really, how similar we are in so many ways._ Risu frowned, wondering why that thought hurt, and pushed the feeling away.

"He's right, though. What's that smell?" Risu sniffed the air, requesting his AI to analyze it. The damn thing had a few useful features… he frowned at the report.

"Charred meat and… fecal matter. I think the sewage system is lacking." That didn't surprise him, really.

The village was like a step back in time. The buildings were made out of crudely cut logs, and he wasn't sure but the roofs appeared to be thatch. There were chickens, dogs and cats wandering through the streets and most of the people they saw were wearing rough homespun that match what Maelgrun had worn to the party. The village was set on the banks of a small river, and Risu winced to himself as he saw a woman throwing a pot into it. No doubt that had something to do with the smell.

The villagers were all watching them, but trying not to be obvious about it. Well, except for the children. They had already attracted a lively little crowd of urchins who were busy tugging on Sora's and Riku's clothing. Risu wasn't attracted as much attention… probably because despite the fineness of the fabric, his jumpsuit just wasn't as interesting as the outfits the other two were wearing.

"Hey, stop that!" Sora gently tried to pry a little girl off his leg as Riku shooed the children off himself. Risu finally stopped and turned, giving the children a hard glare and lifting his hand, allowing just a trickle of darkness to gather. The children immediately dropped back, staring at him, and then took off in a dozen directions.

"That wasn't nice." Sora said with a frown, although Riku seemed mostly relieved. Risu shrugged.

"I'm not nice." He pointed out, and turned, starting off again. He could sense some magic being done in the centre of town, so he was guessing that was where Maelgrun was.

It was a good guess. Maelgrun was stirring the entrails of a recently butchered chicken, as the chicken itself roasted over a fire. Risu tilted his head, watching the divination as Sora gulped in dismay. It wasn't a spell he'd ever used, but he knew the basic concepts… although the books hadn't mentioned roasting the chicken. That was probably just a practical addition. Maelgrun slowly looked up, and blinked.

"Oh, it's you. You're here sooner than I expected." He stood up, cleaning his hands off in a copper basin, and Risu blinked.

"You were expecting us?" Risu glanced dubiously at the entrails. From everything he'd read, reading the entrails might have let Maelgrun know he had visitors coming, but nothing more precise than that.

"Yes, but I thought it would take a little longer. That man…" Maelgrun frowned, clearly putting an effort into recalling something. "The wizard, the one I can never remember. He gave me something for you and said you would be coming here. Don't really know why I agreed but…" Maelgrun shrugged, and pulled out a folded up letter and a gold chain with a pendant on it. "He said you would need these." Risu hesitantly reached out, taking the letter and the necklace.

"Thank you," Risu said, for lack of anything better to say. But Maelgrun shook his head.

"Don't thank me. That man has a geis, and so do you." Risu opened his mouth to ask what he meant, then closed it as Maelgrun turned back to his work. He could tell that just like Maleficent, the druid wouldn't explain anything he didn't care to.

"Let's… go down to the river, upstream, and check this out." He said to Sora and Riku. He didn't want to read the letter where everyone could see them, and the necklace made him a touch uneasy. He was aware of some covetous looks the other villagers were sending them, although Maelgrun seemed indifferent to the wealth the necklace represented. Worked gold had to be rare here.

"What's a geis?" Sora wondered as they walked, and Risu frowned.

"Technically, it's a magical compulsion. But I don't think he meant an actual spell, I think he meant we have a… fate." That wasn't a thought Risu cared for. But he'd delved into too much foretelling magic to think that it couldn't be true. Sometimes, it felt like the future was set to unfold the way it wanted to. Could that mean there were more Writers of Destiny out there? Risu smiled at the thought. He had no idea if it were true, but it if was, it was oddly comforting.

The good guys won in most stories, after all.

Risu examined the necklace first. It was very similar to the first one, but instead of the seal of his world there was an abstract pattern of waves and sand. Breaking the seal on the letter, he unfolded it and read it out loud for the benefit of his friends.

_Apprentice Risu,_

_I am the one you are looking for. Please come to see me. My tower can be found in the World that Could Have Been. I will be waiting for you. And show both necklaces to Sora and Riku. You might find out something interesting._

_- The Nameless One_

"Huh?" Sora scooped up the second necklace, examining it. "Oh hey, look, there's a hook on it! I think this is a keychain." Risu pulled out the first necklace and examined it… it had a similar hook.

"So these would enhance my keyblade?" Risu frowned, slightly dubious, and probed both necklaces with a quick spell. But there was no hint of any spells laid into them… just the lambent energy that a keychain would hold. "Hm." Acting more from instinct than logic, he summoned his keyblade and hooked the first keychain to it.

The result was… underwhelming. There was a faint shimmer, the ice the blade was made out of felt colder. But it was still the Frozen Circuit. Sora passed over the second keychain, and he slid it into place.

There was a brief flash of light, and the keyblade changed. A soft ball of light blue liquid floated behind the curve of the blade. Risu tentatively touched it, and it yielded to his finger, popping back as soon as he withdrew it. It wasn't much of a change, but he could feel a lighter power in the keyblade now. It wasn't quite as dark as it had been.

"What's it called now?" Sora asked, interested, and Risu paused for a moment as he looked at the blade.

"It's… the Incomplete Circuit." Risu looked down the keyblade thoughtfully. It felt like there was a very important piece missing, something that would make it whole. Could the Nameless wizard be interested in the keyblade? But why would he need to do all this? Risu finally shook his head. It was beyond his understanding at the moment. "Let's go to the World that Could Have Been." The name was ominous, but he was sure the answers would be there.

One way or another.


	9. The World that Could Have Been

_The World that Could Have Been._

Risu frowned as the vehicle arrived. It was a halting, unpleasant end to the journey… the vehicle seemed confused by what it had come to, but Risu kept control of it and forced it to come in.

"Wow! This place is really weird." Sora poked more than his head up front, he practically climbed between the two of them as he tried to see through the clearer front dome. Riku didn't bop him though… he was too busy peering out his side of the vehicle.

"Hush. This is hard." Risu muttered as he carefully steered the Travel Happens. There was land here, but it was broken up into dozens of floating islands and there were fluffy clouds everywhere. It was hard to see… he was depending on the vehicle's sensors, but they didn't seem to be working properly. Or rather, the land wasn't registering as quite real. They passed by an island closely and Sora and Riku both stared at it. The landscape seemed to be shifting, changing from desert to mountains to forest as they watched. "This place is not good."

"What do you mean? You said that the vehicle put this place on the far side of the lands of light." Sora questioned Risu, and Risu grimaced.

"Sora, imbalance is often bad. It doesn't matter which way you go." Risu wasn't sure why he was so certain of that, but somehow he was. Sora hesitated, looking troubled.

"I know that the ultimate darkness isn't evil but… that can't be right Risu. Yen Sid said that if all the hearts of the worlds held no darkness, only light, the Heartless would finally go away."

"Then maybe Heartless are supposed to exist." Risu said casually, making Sora frown and Riku shoot him a dirty look. "Leaving that aside, this world has too much light and is verging on unreal. Be on your guard."

They finally pulled up at the largest island. It was as shifty as the rest of the World… except for the great tower that sat at the centre of the island. The vehicle vanished as they jumped out, and Risu stared up at the tower.

It could have been transplanted from his own world. The entire tower was built of what he recognized as Genabrex, a material he had helped invent. It was as clear and beautiful as glass, but stronger than steel and perfectly suited to making truly elegant buildings. This tower was a work of art. Too much so, in fact, to belong in his world. The outside of the tower was divided into panels, and each was a beautiful glass mural depicting scenes that ranged from the World that Never Was to Agrabah. They could very well be factual, but in Risu's world they would seem to have stepped from a forbidden story. Nothing like this could have gotten past the bylaw inspectors.

But it was beautiful, and all three of them stared at it for a long moment, absorbing the rich colors and fascinating stories. It was Sora who finally broke the spell with a sigh.

"Well, we can't wait out here all day… lets go!" He pulled them both forward, and Risu followed with a strange feeling of reluctance. Something was making him uneasy.

Inside the tower was a mosaic floor. All the stones were shades of blue, and Risu blinked as he realized they depicted dozens of faces. Then he swallowed as he recognized his own… and Sora and Riku. Maleficent was there but not Pete, and Sora pointed at another one.

"There's Axel! And there's… Marluxia, Demyx and Saix! But none of the rest of the Organization. That's kind of weird." Sora's eyes trailed over the pattern as he looked for faces he recognized, but then Riku found one before he could.

"There's Xehanort." He pointed at one face, then frowned. "But he looks different." Risu looked at it thoughtfully.

"He's smiling. Maybe that's it." From what they had said, he didn't think amusement had ever been Xehanort's natural mindset. Glancing around, Risu saw that the only other thing in this level of the tower was a great staircase leading upwards. Instead of a railing, though, there was a wall that curled around the staircase, blocking it in. Risu rubbed his forehead and squinted at it… the angles involved should have been impossible. It was a bit like looking at a computer show he'd once seen of a shape that couldn't really exist, and it was offending his mathematical mind. Finally he averted his eyes and walked towards the stairs.

"I feel sick." Sora said breathlessly as they walked up the staircase, and Riku grimaced.

"Me too…" Riku said, and Risu nodded. He had to pause to close his eyes. The walls on either side of the staircase were mirrors. So unless they kept their eyes on their feet, they were constantly seeing endless reflections of themselves on either side. And those reflections weren't… quite right. Risu's AI was doing its best to keep him functional, but it was having a tough time of it. Nausea and vertigo just kept building…

Risu fixed his feet on the floor, grimly climbing. But he had forgotten that his friends didn't have the benefit of an AI, and turned as he heard thumps behind him.

"Sora, Riku?" Sora was out cold, lying on his stomach on a stair. Riku was sprawled out over another stair, on his back, just barely awake. Risu knelt beside him, gripping his shoulders and pulling the younger boy into his lap. "Riku! Come on, you need to wake up."

"I can't…" Riku gasped out, his green eyes glazing over. "The reflections… endless…" Risu looked up at the mirrors and felt his grip on reality begin to fray. He gripped Riku's shoulders harder as his head whirled.

_Mirror magic. This is mirror magic._ He'd never considered that the mirrors could be magical because this kind of magic was insanely dangerous. Riku bit his lip until it bled, and tried to summon darkness to smash the mirrors, although that too was dangerous… but nothing would come, and what little he did get bled away instantly. _No!_ But the reflections were endless, endless, he was falling into them…

Risu was unconscious before he slumped to the floor.

* * *

_The darkness curled into a very tiny ball and tried to hide in non-awareness._

_Mirror magic of this sort was something it had never dabbled in, but it knew a bit about it. Enough to want no part of it._

_Hopefully Risu would survive with his sanity intact._

* * *

Risu sighed, shifting under covers, and opened his eyes reluctantly. It was morning, but he didn't want to get up just yet.

He felt… good. Very good. And something about that seemed wrong, but most of him didn't care.

"Love, are you getting up yet? Breakfast is almost done." Risu looked up, startled, at the smiling woman standing in the doorway. She was heart-stoppingly lovely, with long, silky black hair, pale skin and vibrant blue eyes that warmed with her smile. His heart skipped a beat as he remembered her.

"Coming, Dana." He heard himself say with a smile, but it was far off and distant as shock briefly cushioned his heart. He hadn't seen her in over twenty years…

Pulling himself out of bed, he quickly got dressed and walked out to the dining area. The little apartment they were living in was very nice… there were some nice prints on the walls, and the walls themselves were a gentle off-white with a few, richly colored accent walls. The furniture was actually wood, or wood synthetics and the home seemed warm to him. Nothing like his mother's home, or the shabby little crew quarters he had lived in for decades.

It was the kind of home he had dreamed of having, back when he'd had any dreams, and Risu walked to the kitchen table without consciously willing it.

"Daddy!" A little ball of white curls slammed into his leg, and he laughingly pried it off. It resolved itself into a small boy, perhaps five years old. "Good morning!"

"Good morning to you too, Raki." He said fondly, lifting the child up and setting him into his chair.

They were having waffles, and they tasted delicious… but Risu barely managed to finish the first one before his throat began closing up. The memories, the real memories were stabbing at him like knives.

"Honey? Are you okay? You're not eating." He looked up from his plate into Dana's concerned eyes, and managed an almost convincing smile.

"I'm fine, love. I think I just… need some air." He stood, smiling at her and pausing to ruffle the boy's hair. "I'll be back in a moment." She frowned at him, but let him go. Risu unerringly found the sliding door that led to the garden.

The garden, when he saw it, made him smile faintly. It was a very small indoor garden. Most worlds wouldn't have found it very impressive, but for his people this use of space was a great luxury. Stones had been carefully placed in attractive patterns, and lovely flowers were growing strongly in their beds. There was a bench in the centre of the garden, and Risu took a seat, staring away as he finally allowed himself to really remember.

He and Dana had both been newly graduated Demirene technicians when they met. Unlike many women, she hadn't cared that he had come from a lower caste. He had found her immediately attractive, and she had said that he had an aura of danger about him that called to her. Mutual attraction had clicked, and they had found they had far more in common than that. Common interests, common passions…

Even their differences had complimented each other. Dana had been more outgoing, and had pushed Risu into reaching out. She had also been more content with her life, and Risu had found himself sharing that contentment. It hadn't been a flashy, passionate romance, but it had been deep.

But outside matters had interfered. Flush with his newfound happiness, Risu had worked diligently to create a new and useful type of coupling mechanism for a new class of battlecruiser. He had thought it might win him a promotion to second class. He hadn't really understood, back then, that innovation was not encouraged… instead his superiors had seen him as a threat. Risu smiled sourly to himself, remembering his outrage when he understood. It seemed amazing that he had ever been so innocent.

Then there had been a citizen wellness test. He had tried to pass, he really had… but he had been a poor liar back then. Too many emotional reactions had come out under the AI's careful probing, and even the tiniest flash of hostility could be highly instructive to it. He really hadn't stood a chance.

Even knowing his scores, he hadn't really expected what came next. Over dinner one night, Dana had gently explained that she wanted to enter a contract and have children, preferably within the next ten years. And she couldn't really do that with a man who might be collected by the Mental Wellness centre at any time.

It had been a quiet end to a quiet romance. Risu had wanted to beg her, to promise it would be different… but he couldn't lie to her or to himself. Even then, he was who he was. That edge of danger had attracted her but it also made him… not quite right. And he had loved her, so he made himself wish her well and let her go.

It had felt like his heart was bleeding to death, and he took the first transfer he could, to the station over the Maelstrom. No one ever wanted to go there, so it was easy enough to get a spot, even for an undesirable like himself. But he would have gone anywhere to get away.

For almost a year, he'd avoided all interactions, taking solace in his work. But even the worst of wounds eventually scabs over, and after five years he hardly thought about it anymore. After ten, it was safely in the past and the wound no longer hurt unless it was pressed unexpectedly. And by then, he had learned to keep his heart cold and distant, so it was hard for anything to touch it.

But now he felt like his heart was being sliced open all over again.

_I could pretend this is real. I could stay here forever._ Risu closed his eyes, feeling the unshed tears burning behind them. He wanted to do that. More than anything, he wanted to do that… to live forever in this could have been. But if he did that, what of Riku and Sora? And Maleficent?

He couldn't. No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't be that selfish. Risu took a deep, sobbing breath and abruptly stood. He stared at the door on the opposite side of the garden, and walked over to it, slowly opening it.

Behind it a room of mirrors. Risu hesitated a moment, then finally walked through.

From the past that could have been into the present that was.

* * *

"Riku! Hold it right there!" Riku grimaced at the bright, youthful voice behind him.

_How did he catch up to me like that?_ He wondered as he turned to face Sora. He didn't have the damn bird and dog with him… good. But he was flourishing his keyblade like a good little keyblade wielder. _Meh._ Riku suddenly blinked, and rubbed his forehead with a frown. _This isn't right. This… this has already happened and Sora wasn't there. I got clean away._ _Wasn't Sora in the hold…?_

"How did you get out of the hold so quickly?" Riku said, playing for time. He was on Captain Hook's ship again, about to leave with Kairi.

"There was a secret passageway." Sora said, and Riku frowned again. There HAD been a secret passageway. Captain Hook had finally admitted to it when Riku pressed him on if the hold was secure. And he'd sent a sailor to make sure it was blocked up before they put Sora and his friends there. "Now give me Kairi!"

"Hmph. Give her to you? I'm the one who spent the time to find her," Riku said derisively. "I…" Riku trailed off, unable to keep saying his lines.

And they felt like lines. This was the past, and this could have happened… but it hadn't. Why was he doing this? _Risu. Risu and Sora and the Land that Could Have Been… I need to get out of here, but how?_ The past Sora had been saying something, but Riku hadn't paid any attention… until the younger boy suddenly attacked.

Riku parried effortlessly with the Soul Eater, and the battle was on. Sora's attack was fast and furious and didn't give him any time to think. He had to fight, and fight hard, just to keep the brunette off of him.

And then _it happened._ It was just a small thing. A pebble on the floor, an unevenness in the decking, or maybe just a simple moment of clumsiness. But Sora stumbled and Riku immediately took the opening, expecting it to be a feint, knowing it had to be a feint…

It wasn't a feint, and Riku felt the solid impact at the Soul Eater went home, staring into Sora's wide blue eyes. It was hard to say who was more shocked.

"Sora," he breathed as Sora coughed up blood. He yanked back his sword and dropped it, grabbing Sora's shoulders as the shorter boy swayed. "Sora!"

"Riku…" Sora said weakly as he slumped, and Riku held him tightly, kneeling down beside him as he eased Sora to the floor. There was so much blood on the floor, on his hands…

"Sora, I didn't mean it! I… I take it back… don't die!" Desperately, Riku tried to reach for the light but couldn't find it. "Sora!" Desperately, he held Sora close, the younger boy's head on his chest. Sora's eyes were glazing over, his breathing slowing.

"Riku, you have to… save Kairi…" Sora weakly gripped his hand. Riku's eyes filled with tears, even though he knew it wasn't real, it hadn't happened this way…

"I-I will Sora. I'll save Kairi…" Sora's head slipped back as his eyes closed, and Riku gently set him down.

_It didn't happen this way._ Riku thought, feeling sick, as he looked at Sora. He looked so peaceful, but the blood was everywhere. _It didn't happen this way, but it could have. Just one stupid, careless pirate and this could have happened._ The thought was absolutely chilling. Riku had thought of himself, and Sora as well, as being immortal. He'd never thought either of them could die. He knew better now of course, but when this could have happened he had been younger and hadn't spent years in the darkness. _I have to get out of here. I have to find the real Sora and Risu._ Standing and trying to ignore the way his pants were sticking to his legs, he walked to a far door and opened it.

Behind it was a room of mirrors. He walked through without a backward glance, grateful that his could have been had never happened.

* * *

Sora stood on the white balcony in the white castle, looking up at a blue heart in the sky. There were other figures on separate balconies, all looking up at the main one, where the heart stood.

_Roxas. I'm Roxas right now._ That wasn't right, he knew. He was Sora… but right now he was wearing the robe of Organization 13, and his hair was blonde. A hand clasped his shoulder, and he looked up at a familiar face, grinning at him.

"It's finally time Roxas! You ready for this?" Axel asked playfully, and Sora just smiled with a slight shake of his head as he wondered what they were ready for. "Aw, you don't seem excited. What, worried it won't work?"

"Kind of…" He murmured softly, spotting Xenmas standing at the base of the heart. He was smiling coldly, and something about it chilled him. It seemed like he was taking pleasure in what he was doing for reasons besides the obvious.

_You're being paranoid._ Sora tried to shrug off the feeling, and frowned. _But this isn't right… is this what would have happened if Riku had never caught Roxas and brought him to DiZ? But what happened to Riku?_ Sora decided not to think about it. He couldn't really ask Axel, and something was beginning to happen.

The gathered Nobodies murmured as the light of the heart brightened. Sora glanced at the other balconies and recognized several familiar faces… Luxord, Larxene, Xigbar, Vexen… Saix was standing on the central balcony beside Xenmas. He was looked impossibly happy for a Nobody, and Sora felt an unnamed dread as he saw that soft, almost sweet smile on his face. _He thinks his dream is coming true, but is it?_

The heart flared brighter, and they all had to look away. Then the heart… vanished. But Sora could feel the radiant energy coming from Xenmas and a more solid feeling from the world itself. The World that Never Was… was real in a way it hadn't been before. And Xenmas was more real still.

"Superior." Saix knelt in front of Xenmas and bowing his head. Xenmas smiled again, and gently rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Saix." Sora said softly, drawing a curious glance from Axel. "Oh, Saix, no." Axel's eyes widened, and he looked up searchingly at the platform just as Xenmas hand tightened.

Saix jolted as if he'd been hit with an electrical shot, and his head jerked up. For just a moment, Sora caught a glimpse of the stark horror on his face.

"Why…?" Saix's question carried in the sudden silence, before his body broke up and returned to the darkness. The Nobodies were stunned for just a second, but that second was mostly fatal. Bolts of dark energy lashed out and several were obliterated before they could react. Then the rest understood what had happened.

Except in rare circumstances, Nobodies have no true loyalties to each other. They can't, because they can't truly feel the emotions that bind together friends and family. They had followed Xenmas because he was charismatic and power and, when you got down to it, what did they have to lose? With the cold logic of Nobodies, they all suddenly realized that Xenmas had never intended to give them hearts. Had never intended to share the power he gained with any of them.

Larxene and Xigbar attacked instantly, followed closely by Xaldin. It did none of them any good. Their attacks met shields of pure power, bouncing away, and blasts of pure darkness destroyed them. Only Xaldin survived, vanishing into a corridor of darkness.

Others tried to escape immediately. Vexen ran towards a corridor, but a bolt of pure fire slammed into him, and the Chilly Academic vanished into flames. Luxord made it into the darkness but Zexion didn't. And a few, a very few of the Nobodies couldn't react fast enough to be anything more than confused before they died. Demyx was desperately calling something to Xenmas when something sharp and almost invisible slashed through him.

Sora and Axel watched the scene unfold in horror, and time seemed to stretch as Xenmas sent a particularly power bolt of pure darkness at the one Nobody who could wield a keyblade. He called in both his keyblades and raised them but knew it was too little too late-

"NO!" Axel yanked him into his arms and whirled him around, taking the brunt of the attack across his back. It blew them both across the balcony, and Sora rolled over, staring at his friend. Axel was already beginning to vanish, his body breaking up and returning to the darkness. "Run Roxas." Axel gasped out, lifting a hand and creating a corridor with the last of his energy. "_Run._"

Sora ran, and felt the stone behind him shatter just as he touched the darkness… and fell into a room of mirrors.

Leaving behind the future that could have been.


	10. A Gathering Darkness

"Riku, Risu!" Sora ran up to them, relieved to see them. "Riku, are you okay-ack!" He wasn't expecting the powerful hug his friend gave him. "Riku, you're wet… wait… that's blood?" Sora pushed Riku back, gripping his shoulders tightly as he searched the other boy for injuries. Riku smiled, and it was an expression of utter relief.

"It's not mine. Don't worry about it. I'm just glad to see you're okay." He turned slightly took look over at his brother. "Risu? Are you okay?" Risu had been standing completely still, his hair hanging over his face, and Riku suddenly frowned. That looked… defensive, and that was completely unlike Risu. He was usually extremely self-confident. But as he spoke, Risu shook back his hair and looked over at them, reaching up to adjust his goggles on his forehead.

"I'm fine," Risu said calmly, but the calm had a strange, brittle quality to it. His face was expressionless, but Riku didn't like the look in his eyes at all. It was hard for him to read, but seemed like a kind of… anguish. "But we appear to be in a maze." Sora and Riku both looked around, really registering the room for the first time.

It was a maze of mirrors. Each mirror held a reflection of them that was different. Some subtly, some obviously, but none they could see matched the reality.

_Find the true you and you will be free._ The voice wasn't heard as much as felt, like a vibration in their bones. Sora frowned, and began peering at the mirrors.

"We have to find the true one? Okay…" He and Riku started searching the mirrors as Risu stood and watched, his eyes distant and his mind far away as he thought.

_The true you. The true you…_ He mused, and glanced down at his hands. They were callused from his work, but unmarked by any scars. His nanite systems didn't permit scarring. _The true you._ Cautiously, he tried to call on the darkness, but it fizzled away as soon as he touched it. _The nature of this place is blocking me. I have to try something else._

Darkness was always the easiest power to find, for someone of his temperament. But it was far from the only one. And when you got right down to it, light was only darkness turned inside out…

Risu opened himself to the anguish in his heart, closing his eyes as the tears welled up. The pain cut like a knife, and he sharpened it on his regrets, and then used it to open a channel to the light. It was hardly the best way to do it, and he knew he would eventually regret it, but the light needed to either be channeled through intense emotion… or completely clear-minded. And there was no way he was going to be clear-minded for some time. Not even a god could have stilled the hurt that quickly.

The power of the light came instantly, as if it had just been waiting for him to open up to it. Power filled him and glowed in his hands, a soft radiance that made Riku and Sora turn to look at him, startled.

"There is only one true Risu." He said to the World that Could Have Been. "The one standing right here. Enough with your silly tricks. Take my grief, take my hurt, take my pain." And in an almost gentle motion, he laid both his hands onto the mirrors and unleashed the power of the light.

Abruptly, they woke up in their real bodies, sitting up. And the mirrors began to shatter, starting at the bottom of the steps. Glass shards rained down on them, and the destruction continued up the stairs. Even when the explosions were far out of sight, they could still hear the glass breaking.

"I… I hope the wizard isn't upset about what we did to his mirrors." Sora said weakly, looking down at the shards. "And how did you do that?"

"I channeled the light." Risu closed his eyes as pain slid through his mind. His brain felt seared, and he knew why. Maleficent hadn't been able to give him any instruction about using the light, so he'd learned from books, and they'd had plenty of cryptic warnings. Now he was sure he knew what they had meant.

_If you would channel the light through your emotions, the light will take the cause of your emotion as its price. Be wary._

Risu knew he had been in terrible, soul deep pain when he had called on the light. But he couldn't remember why. And he felt that he had lost something very painful and important.

"It was the only thing I could do, since the darkness wouldn't answer me here." He shoved himself to his feet, squaring his shoulders. "And I couldn't give less of a crap about what the wizard thinks. Come on." He started walking purposefully up the stairs, the glass tinkling under his feet.

It seemed to take forever for them to reach the top of the stairs. But finally, they came to the top of the tower and cautiously looked around.

They were standing in a wide, circular room. The floor was made of rough, grey stone and the walls were the same. Bookshelves lined one side of the room, and there was long table near them covered in papers and magical items. But most of the room was achingly bare, except for a few chairs. The wizard was sitting at the table, writing on a piece of paper. He looked up as they entered, completely unsurprised at the intrusion. His voice, when he spoke, was very old… at least as old as Merlin and Yen Sid.

"Hello Risu, Sora, Riku. I was hoping you would get here soon." He glanced down at the paper and pushed it away. "Please, have a seat." He gestured across from him, but Risu frowned.

"I think I'll stand." He didn't want to get that close to the person he was sure had helped kidnap Maleficent. He tried to examine the wizard for a moment, but the details of him just… faded out of his mind. It was like trying to see a blur. He could only get an impression of great age and wisdom. "Why did you kidnap Maleficent?"

"That way, is it?" The wizard sighed. "All business… I didn't kidnap Maleficent. But I did turn that keychain into the spell her enemies needed to kidnap her. As for why… to bring you here, Risu." He smiled, and even though Risu had a hard time focusing, he could tell the smile was both sad and tired. "This has all been about you."

"Why?" Risu asked, perplexed and a touch angry. "You could have just requested my presence. And I'm an apprentice! What use am I to you?"

"As you are, you are no use to me." The wizard replied candidly. "That was why I had to bring you here this way. Only when you overcome your conditioning will you be any use to me… and you must, to save Maleficent." The wizard paused, taking a deep breath. "I think I should start at the beginning." Risu grudgingly nodded, as Sora tilted his head and Riku crossed his arms.

"A long time ago, there was an apprentice." The wizard began, and Risu schooled himself to patience as Riku bit back a groan. They were starting THAT far back? "Unlike you, Risu, this apprentice had no great natural intelligence or aptitude for magic. But he was similar to you in being a diligent, conscientious worker but he was also ambitious and had a great love for knowledge. He looked forward to his likely future as a hedge wizard, selling love potions and wart cures, with discontent. And one day, he happened to find a box. Or perhaps it found him. It's hard to tell, sometimes…"

"Inside the box there was a globe of surpassing beauty, and it turned out to be an artifact. Do you know what an artifact is?" The wizard asked them. Sora and Riku glanced at each other, not having any idea, and Risu answered.

"It's a magical item created by a god. There's some speculation that keyblade's, genie's lamps and some of the odder items out there are artifacts… but how did you know the globe was an artifact?" The wizard smiled sadly.

"Because as soon as the apprentice touched it… no, as soon as I touched it… it made me an offer. I could wish for anything, anything at all. The globe would name the price it required to meet my desire, and if I agreed, I would have my wish."

"Like a genie?" Sora said, and the wizard nodded.

"Somewhat. But not limited to three wishes… and with consequences. So, my first wish was to have the talent and intelligence needed to become the greatest wizard to ever live. The price to have that… was to never know love." The wizard's voice was steady, almost indifferent, but Risu winced. "I agreed, of course. Love meant nothing to me then."

"That was only the first bargain of many. I sold away so much… finally, I made my last wish. I wished to be able to see the past, present and future. I loved knowledge for its own sake, and that would truly be the ultimate knowledge. The price for that was that no one would ever know my name, or remember me for more than the briefest time. I would be a phantom across the world, unknown and forgotten. It was a dreadful price, but I disdained fame, so I accepted… and the globe vanished."

"You were very dedicated." Risu offered, and the wizard laughed. Sora shivered at the sound. It was old, tired, and so very bitter.

"I was a fool." Risu couldn't think of any good reply to that, and sensibly stayed silent. The wizard smiled crookedly. "I sold gold coins for silver. Well… it's too late for me, but I'll at least make use of the gifts I have. Risu, you must overcome your limitations and save your worlds from the darkness before it is too late." Risu's eyes widened, and his anger suddenly flared.

"MY worlds?" He suddenly snapped. "The worlds that made me a social outcast, afraid that my very MIND would be destroyed if I dared say what was on it? The worlds that enslaved me to a fucking computer? Let them rot! I don't care about them!" Riku and Sora stepped back as darkness flared around Risu, and cold suddenly filled the air.

But the wizard only laughed, long and hard. The sound rolled over them, gaining volume as the wizard stood, a staff appearing in one hand. It glowed with power as he raised it. All three of them summoned their keyblades, standing ready for an attack… but a bolt of power shot up and hit the ceiling. With a burst of black and silver sparks, the roof of the tower ripped away into the sky… a sky that was turning dark.

"Don't care was made to care, Risu." The wizard boomed, as the floor under their feet began to break up. "Don't care was made to care!" Jagged streaks of purple and black shot through the fragmenting floor, and the stone vanished as they fell into the darkness.

They landed hard on a massive boulder, floating free in the void. Risu looked down over the edge and swallowed hard. It was the Maelstrom, the great swirling void that his people believed was the place that lost matter went to be recycled. It was always a frightening sight, a sink of primal power that seemed as utterly destructive and indifferent as a hurricane. But in all the time he'd lived directly over it, on the waystation, the size of the Maelstrom had not changed at all.

This was at least ten times as big as he remembered. The Maelstrom seemed to stretch out into infinity, and he could see bits and pieces of worlds he knew, ripped and torn and falling into the Maelstrom…

There a piece of Maleficent's castle. There… a house from Agrabah. And there…. Sora made a strangled sound and Riku grunted as pieces of Traverse Town and the Destiny Islands passed them by. Heartless danced over the ruins, delighting in the destruction.

So many Heartless. They were being devoured by the Maelstrom too, but they seemed to welcome it, and there was so many. Their dark little figures danced through the Maelstrom, and swarms of them darkened the air above them. Their numbers were uncountable.

"All the worlds of light are ending," Sora breathed out. "Risu, how...?" Risu swallowed again as he realized the answer. His worlds had billions of inhabitants. Billions of people trapped in a high tech hell that had no escape… and a good number of them had no reason to live. No reason to fight the Heartless, and in fact every reason in the world to give in to the Heartless. Becoming a Heartless would be a way to be free.

And the vehicles they used were oh, so easy to use. Easy enough, perhaps, for even a Heartless to use them. Of course, if his people were right about the Maelstrom, and it was a great recycling unit, perhaps this was the natural consequence of so many Heartless. All the Heartless and all the worlds would be recycled into something new.

Of course, that was no comfort at all to the people who lived there right now.

"Alright! I take it back!" Risu yelled out to the wizard who was sharing his vision of the future with them. "I care! Alright? I care! I'll do what I can to stop-ah!" The rock began to break up, and Sora yelped, grabbing onto Riku as the rock disintegrated into gravel. Riku grabbed Risu by the ankle as they fell down into the darkness…


End file.
